Dragon Chronicles
by Lashana Inferno
Summary: Remember that dragon egg that the Guys gave Lashana on Valentine's Day? Well, it hatched with...unexpected results. Follow the insanity as the little basta--er, I mean, as the little darlings grow up in the Palace, causing tons of trouble in the process.
1. 03/12/02 The Hatching

_Disclaimer : We own only ourselves. I wish we owned our Harem Guys, but we don't. The dragons are mine, (the names of Kalamadea and Akhor belong to the authors that thought them up. Mainly Mercedes Lackey and Elizabeth Kerner respectively) and Telca's cat belongs to her. That is all._

_**The Hatchlings appearances are based on the statues by Windstone Editions. I'll put a gallery up on the page soon. Maybe...._

_This fic is in Lashana's POV, and it's in Journal entry style, which means that you really should pay attention to the dates of the chapters. Read, Enjoy and Review._

_Words between ::these:: mean telepathic thoughts. So does ~this~ Comprende? Bueno. Read the fic._   
  


03/12/02 The Hatching   
  


There's something about being Bonded to someone that snores that just frays the nerves. It's true. I was lying in bed at 3 am, wide awake and Blackwargreymon was making sounds that resembled an elephant trying to pass an 18-wheeler. Needless to say, counting sheep wasn't even going to mildly help me. Plan A was me kicking him until he rolled over. I had done Plan A to death. Time for Plan B. 

Grabbing my pillow, I fwaped him with it until I could secure a blanket, then stomped out of the room, heading for one of the free TV rooms in my wing of the Palace. Needless to say, me trying to navigate my way through a dark hallway at 3 in the morning is a sight to see. The only way I made it into the room was by rebounding off a wall I had just walked into. _Owie....my nose...._

I made my way towards something that resembled a couch, slammed my knee against a table, yelped, dropped my pillow and promptly tripped over the carpet, introducing my forehead to the corner of the coffee table. It took me two minutes to haul myself up onto the couch and curl the blanket around me, my knee and head pounding in time with my heartbeat. 

Now that I had a mild concussion, I figured that sleep would come a lot faster. Or unconsciousness. Whichever won out first. Granted I had forgotten about one little detail : I didn't like to sleep alone. That whole business with the demon coming to attack me at night a few months back left me with wonderful nightmares. 

I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling, tensing when my imagination made the shadows in the corner of my eye move. _Okay. That's it._ _Time to relocate._ Heart pounding, I threw the blanket aside and ran out of the room, my mind firmly telling me that I was an idiot. My imagination overrode my mind with the image of another demon stalking me from the shadows, sending me into a half-awake panic. 

It didn't help one bit that I tripped over Telca's cat, Mischief, along the way. Damned thing nearly gave me a frickin' heart attack. 

Luckily, having Harem members that like you means that you can usually guilt them into letting you curl up next to them. I was counting on that as I stopped in front of a door and knocked softly. It took three more knocks before someone answered the door. 

~ 'Shana? Wha are you doin' up?~ Mewtwo's thoughts echoed the half-awake look in his eyes as he leaned on the door's archway, blinking at me sleepily for a moment before he frowned. ~What's wrong?~ 

"Blacky's snoring and I can't sleep by myself cuz of the nightmares and it's cold and I smashed my knee and Telca's cat is driving me nuts and can I please stay with you?" 

He blinked. Apparently being half-dead from lack of sleep makes me ramble and forget about punctuation. Oh well. 

~Nightmares?~ Oh crap. I hadn't filled him in on that demon incident. I'd have to remember to do that when I'm coherent. I don't know what expression I had when he mentioned the nightmares, but apparently it was enough. ~Alright. But if Blacky kills me it's your fault.~ 

I glomped him. "Thanks." 

He favored me with one of his rare chuckles and gently pried me off of himself before heading back to his bed. In actuality, he had made me buy him an oversized hammock when he first moved in. Something about the beds hurting his back. I personally didn't give a damn, if it made him happy, all the better. That meant that I was in his good graces and could get away with stealing his morning newspaper. 

I watched as he rearranged the disgusting amount of blankets he had before he hopped up and lay back on the hammock, gesturing for me to join him. 

~Hurry up or sleep on the floor.~ Okay, so he's about as nice as I am at 3 in the morning. I could live with that. 

Shivering, I quickly climbed in next to him and sighed happily when he pulled the blankets over us. "Thanks 'Two." 

He yawned in reply. ~Get some sleep.~ 

I was simply too tired to argue. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

I ought to mention that there are times where 'Two acts like an overgrown cat. Which brings about the fact that cats, when they really _really _like someone, tend to snuggle. Thus I suppose that I shouldn't have been too surprised to find Mewtwo curled around me when I woke up the next morning. It was rather comfortable actually. Truthfully it was _extremely _comfortable. So comfortable that I stubbornly shoved aside the lure of coffee and snuggled closer to the living warmth beside me. 

It wasn't until Mewtwo let out a soft sigh that I realized that I had never seen him so relaxed. On impulse, I reached up and scratched a spot behind his right horn thingy (I have no real idea what the heck it is), and grinned when he immediately started purring. "You're a big softy," I whispered to the sleeping Pokemon. "You're just too damned guarded for your own good." 

I lowered my hand from his head when the fingers on my hand reminded me that I had slammed them against a wall the night before and frowned as I studied the bruises on the middle joints of my index and middle fingers, wondering how I had managed to do that to myself. 

~Don't stop.~ 

I yelped and damn near fell out of the hammock. Only Mewtwo's quick reflexes managed to keep me from crashing to the floor. "Sweet hairy hell! Don't scare me like that!" 

~Sorry,~ he chuckled as he pulled me back under the blankets, his tail curling around my left ankle again as he gazed at me curiously. ~So what was that about last night? Demons and nightmares?~ 

"It's a long and annoying story," I sighed, blinking when he rose a hand and held it just above my temple. I knew what he wanted to do, so I nodded and held still as he rested his fingers against my forehead, his eyes gaining the familiar blue glow that signified that he was using his psychic powers. 

It always feels so strange to have someone other than yourself looking through your memories, and if I hadn't trusted Mewtwo as much as I did, I would have lashed out with everything I had. As it was, I tried very hard to keep myself calm, knowing that he wouldn't invade my private thoughts, and knowing that if he did, I'd have to beat the living daylights out of him. 

He pulled away seconds later, and I blinked dazedly. ~I didn't know things ever got that serious around here.~ 

"Hang around long enough an we're bound to be attacked by someone else...or some_thing_ else." I trailed off and shivered at the memory of the demon, closing my eyes as I savagely shoved the images aside. 

~Do me a favor?~ 

"Maybe," I sighed, opening my eyes to look at him and frowning when he tilted his head towards me. I chuckled seconds later when I realized what he wanted, and obligingly rose my hand to dig my fingers into the short fur behind his right horn, smiling when he started to purr. 

~That feels _so _nice... Though if you tell anyone I'll have to kill you.~ 

I grinned at that. "I'd be more afraid if you didn't sound like a giant cat at the moment." 

He grumbled half-heartedly, then growled in protest when I pulled away. ~Hey- ~ 

"Something's wrong," I told him as I fought my way free of the blankets, yelping when my foot got caught in them. I crashed to the floor with a wail, yanked my foot free and fairly bolted from the room, dimly aware that Mewtwo was right behind me. 

I burst into my bedroom, taking little notice of the evident lack of snoring Digimon, and made a beeline for the wildly rocking pot on my dresser. Said pot held the dragon egg that my Guys had given to me on Valentines Day, I had almost lost hope in it ever hatching. But as I yanked the cover off the clay pot, I discovered that it was indeed hatching, and that I had absolutely no idea what to do next. 

My salvation came in the form of a certain psychic pokemon that ran into the room seconds later. "It's hatching! Mewtwo, it's hatching!" I thought panicking seemed to be in order at the moment. Hence the frantic screaming that followed. "_What the hell am I supposed to do?!_" 

He ran over and took the pot from my hands, going over to the bed and gingerly dumping the egg out onto the blankets. ~Come here. The dragon is already attuned to you. If you're not nearby when it hatches it'll track you down or die trying.~ 

The image of any dragon dying made me rush over to him, joining him in staring down at the egg. "I haven't even thought of a name yet." 

~You've got about three seconds to figure one out,~ he told me as a large crack appeared in the shell. He's about as helpful as a kick in the head sometimes. 

As a large portion of the shell fell off, I busied myself with attaching myself to Mewtwo's left arm, my eyes widening when a tiny peacock-hued form tumbled out onto the blankets. "Ohmigods! He's soooo kute!" 

Mewtwo chuckled, then tensed. ~And he has a sibling.~ 

"What?!" I snapped my gaze back to the egg, gaping when a metallic green scaled copy crawled out to join the first hatchling. "Sweet flamin' shit." I dropped to my knees next to the bed and slowly reached out, smiling when the two small draconic forms immediately rubbed their heads against my hand. "They're adorable..." 

~Lashana!~ 

Startled, I snapped my gaze up to meet his, blinking for a moment before following his stare to the egg, where a small white form was struggling to emerge. Worried that it would hurt itself, I quickly scooped the little dragon into my cupped hands and relocated it to it's siblings, casting a wary look at the egg as I did so. "It's empty now.....right?" 

Mewtwo poked at it, then leaned over me to look. ~Yes.~ 

"Good." I returned my gaze to the three dragon hatchlings in front of me and sighed. "What in the hells am I going to do with three dragons?" 

I studied the triplets as my mind whirled with ideas of names. The first, which I suppose would be the oldest, seemed to be the larger of the three. His - I don't know how, but I automatically knew they were all male - scales a varied mix of royal metallic blue to a rich green. Small golden nubs that would become horns later on seemed to be just starting to emerge from his head, and his wings, while too small for him to use at the moment, were already spreading and folding. A three toed claw with gold talons closed over my right index finger as he tried to climb up onto my wrist, a small squeak escaping him when I automatically scooped him into my hands. His gaze fixed on me then, and I couldn't help but gasp at the intelligence in those expressive light blue eyes. 

::.....Elfy?:: 

I damn near dropped him. "Mewtwo! It...he _talked!_ In my head!" I paused as what he had said sunk into my stunned brain and looked down at the tiny dragon in my hands. "Hey! How the hell do you know that?! You're five minutes old!" 

I swear he giggled. 

As Mewtwo started giving me bizarre looks, the second dragon latched his talons into my arm and climbed up to join the first. I made a mental note to teach that one how to climb without drawing blood. The second was only slightly smaller than the first, his scales a rich blend of dark and light metallic greens that were accented by the gold on his talons and the fridge of his wings. He turned his bright red gaze to me, then turned to look at Mewtwo and scrunched his little face up in concentration. 

::......hungry!:: 

Mewtwo gaped. ~Did it..... It's _telepathic?!_~ 

"I don't know. Seems like it's a real effort to talk to you. I can hear them just fine." 

::Elfy!:: 

"Yes yes. We've covered that," I scowled at the first dragon, who grinned happily. A tiny whimper drew my attention to the third dragon, who was looking up at me with soulful golden eyes. I quickly shifted my hold on the two in my hands, cradling them in the crook of my left arm before reaching down with my free hand and letting the little white dragon climb into my palm. 

This one was much smaller than the others, and had a kind of quiet frailty to him that started to make me worry....at least it did until he gave me a draconic grin and proceeded to pounce on the other two. I now had three fighting, squirming, clawing and biting dragons in my arms. "Owowowowow!! Stop that!" 

I thought Mewtwo was going to pass out when the trio actually obeyed, all of them pausing and looking up at me curiously. "No fighting when I'm holding you. I value my skin," I told them, sending a pointed look at the claw marks on my bare arms. They weren't bleeding. But they did hurt. 

~I don't believe this....~the pokemon said. ~That guy said nothing about triplets. And they're telepathic!~ 

"You said that already." 

:_:Hungry!_:: 

Mewtwo and I both yelped at the three unified voices, the pokemon forced to steady me when I scrambled to keep my balance. "Um....what do dragons eat?" 

~You're asking me?~ 

This was going to be a long, looooong day. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

After I had helped Mewtwo clean the egg shell from the blankets - the three dragons had taken great pleasure in getting in the way - I gathered the hatchlings in my arms and headed downstairs with the intention of finding them _something_ to eat. If only to shut them up. 

::_HUNGRY!!_:: 

"Yes! I know!" 

::_HUNGRY!!_:: 

"If you keep yelling I'm not going to feed you!!" Silence. Blessed, blessed silence. "That's better." 

Mewtwo chuckled. ~Impatient little things, aren't they?~ 

"Extremely," I sighed. 

~Twenty minutes old and already they're mirroring their owner.~ 

"'Two. If I wasn't holding them I'd hurt you." 

~I know. Think of this as revenge for waking me up at 3 in the morning.~ He smirked at the glare I sent him and pushed open the swinging kitchen door. The wave of noise that blasted out of that room nearly sent me staggering backwards. The three dragons gave tiny squeaks of alarm and burrowed deeper into the safety of my arms. 

I decided it was time to introduce the Harem to the new arrivals. "Mewtwo? Be a dear and introduce them to a low power Psyburn, will you?" 

He grinned. ~I'd love to.~ 

Two seconds later, everything was quiet. Mostly because all the Guys in the Kitchen were clutching their heads in pain. Heh. Welcome to the wonderful world of Tylenol. 

"Now you know how I feel when you lot give me headaches," I said as I strolled into the Kitchen and headed for the fridge. 

"That was cruel," Duncan muttered, giving me a look that was somewhere between a wince and a glare. I thought he looked constipated. 

~I thought it was rather entertaining,~ Mewtwo grinned as he joined me at the fridge, kindly pointing out the remains of last night's dinner. Mmmm. Fresh ham. 

I grabbed the Tupperware bowl and slammed the door on a reaching tendril. I absolutely had to get around to beating the living daylights out of whatever was living in the back of the fridge. But not today. Shoving Zelgadis out of the way, I set the plate on the island counter and rose my gaze to the gathered Harem Guys. There weren't that many. Only six, excluding Mewtwo. 

"Okay, y'all. Be nice and try not to act like yourselves," I announced as I gently set the trio on the counter, grinning at the shocked gazes all around. "I haven't thought of names for them yet, but they're all male." 

"They're...... The egg hatched?" Zelgadis frowned, looking at me in surprise when I nodded. "But there weren't supposed to be three!" 

"Mewtwo already went over that," I told him as I ripped the cover off the Tupperware bowl and proceeded to rip small pieces of ham off of the main hunk. "And, um, if any of you hear voices...don't freak." 

"Voices?" I looked over at Blackwargreymon as he came to stand beside me. "They talk?" 

~They're telepathic,~ Mewtwo explained for me since I had my hands full in trying to keep the trio from climbing _into_ the bowl. ~Though it seems that they're more attuned to speaking with Lashana. I heard them, but that may be because I'm psychic.~ 

"You're kidding," Kang muttered, reaching out with a single talon to lightly poke at the white dragon. I smacked him. 

"Be careful!!" I growled as the white one scrambled closer to me. "They're only half an hour old." 

"They're kinda cute," Duncan mused as he carefully rubbed a finger over the green dragon's head, smiling when the hatchling closed his eyes and leaned into the caress. 

"So are you as long as you don't open your mouth," Kang teased, laughing when the Immortal sputtered. 

I couldn't help it. "Showing some unknown love for the Immortal, Kang?" I turned to hand feed the little white dragon as he glared at me, only barely managing to hide a smug smirk as I focused my attention on the smallest of the litter. 

"It's a runt," Zelgadis grumbled as he watched me hand it small pieces of ham. The other two were doing just fine on their own. Mewtwo was feeding the blue one, and Nightcrawler was doing the same for the green one. 

"So?" I asked, arching an eyebrow at the chimera. "What of it?" 

"You do know that it'll probably die." 

I felt my temper rise. "He will do no such thing!" I grabbed the nearest thing I could reach and slammed it down on Zel's head, growling as the chimera slumped to the floor, out cold. I rose my gaze to the audience and lifted the rolling pin threateningly. "Anyone else wanna say something?!" 

There were unanimous mutterings of 'no'. I was surprised to see Mewtwo glaring down at the unconscious Zelgadis, I hadn't been aware that the Pokemon could be so protective. 

~You're growing on me.~ 

I smiled and glanced at him, seeing him smirk before his attention was diverted to the dragon that was trying to leap out of his arms to get to the Tupperware container. "I have _got_ to think of names for them." 

"Don't suppose you'd consider calling one of them 'Kang'?" 

I looked over at the draconian and smiled. "One of you is enough." 

Blackwargreymon chuckled and lightly nudged me in the ribs. "Good morning by the way. Where'd you go?" 

"You snore. Loudly," I stated, seeing him wince. "I couldn't get you to shut up so I left." 

"That's more than what I could do." 

I blinked and looked over at the sour tone, smiling at Telca cheerfully. "Good morning!" The look she gave me could have melted glass. So she wasn't a morning person. Neither was I. "Your cat's being a pain in the arse again." 

"I taught her well then," Telca smirked. 

I grinned an evil grin. "I hope I'm as good a teacher as you then," I said as I gestured to the two dragons that Mewtwo and Nightcrawler were holding. 

"So! It looks like that egg wasn't a dud after all. Malcho will be relieved." 

I blinked and looked at her. "What? Why?" 

"Well I know how much you wanted a pet and that egg wasn't hatching... So I told him that if that egg didn't hatch soon that he would be providing you with a hatchable egg one way or another...whether he liked it or not," Telca explained, grinning at my shocked expression. 

"No wonder he hasn't been around lately," Kang muttered under his breath. 

Telca casually reached out and fwaped my draconian, switching subjects before I could say anything "Hey, I thought there was only supposed to be one dragon! What is this, a two-for-one?" 

"Actually...it's more like a three for one," Duncan snickered as I scooped the little white dragon into my arms. 

"Aren't they adorable?" I smiled, glancing down when a plaintive mewl caught my attention. I couldn't help but stare as Mischief lept up into Telca's arms, then reached out a paw to bat at the dragon in my arms. Acting on instinct, I threw myself backwards into Blackwargreymon's arms, hearing a startled squeak from the hatchling in my arms as the clawed paw just barely missed it's snout. 

"I think you'd better keep the hatchlings away from Telca's cat until they've grown a little, Lashana-dono," the previously silent Kenshin said. I'm surprised Duncan didn't say it first. He's usually the one to state the obvious. 

I answered with my usual charm. "Well, duh." I hadn't noticed that Telca was staring at the hatchling in my arms until she chuckled and elbowed Nightcrawler to get his attention. "What?" 

She pointed to the little one in my arms and grinned. "Look you can see the family resemblance. He matches your hair, he's got an attitude and he's a runt just like his mommy." 

"I am not a runt!" I snapped as Blackwargreymon growled lowly. He usually gets upset enough for the both of us, but this involved one of my dragons. It was personal now. Unfortunately, before I could comment on her lovely upbringing of the demon cat, Mewtwo grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the other sorceress. 

~You're forgetting that the dragons are tuned to you,~ he murmured in my thoughts, drawing me out of my insulted rage as he held out a hissing blue dragon. I was slightly startled to see it glaring at Telca as it bared it's tiny fangs. 

"Whoops. I guess I forgot," I sighed, moving to let Mewtwo set the upset hatchling into my arms to join the white one. "Where's the third?" 

~Trying to bite Telca.~ 

"I think he's my favorite," Blackwargreymon teased as Nightcrawler bamfed over to me and returned the third hatchling. It was so cute when the little green one sneezed. Hell, I wasn't even aware dragons _could_ sneeze. I just hoped they wouldn't start to breath fire as they grew. Fire breathing dragons that could sneeze could present interesting problems. 

Ignoring the glares being sent back and forth by my Bonded and Telca, I walked over to the island counter and grabbed the Tupperware bowl, carefully cradling the three hatchlings in the crook of my left arm. "I'm headin' for the library." 

"What for?" Telca asked. "You haven't even had your customary three cups of coffee yet." 

"I figured that some of the books up there might give me ideas on what to name them." 

"Greeny, Bluey, and...." Duncan trailed off at the glare of death I sent him. Smart man. Just because he's Immortal doesn't mean that various parts of him will grow back if I cut them off. 

Of course, I had momentarily forgotten about Telca. "Let's just call the third one Runt and be done with it." 

_I will not kill. I will not kill. I will not kill. _With that mantra in my head, I shoved my way past Telca and headed for the main stairs, the hatchlings strangely silent in my arms. I glanced down at them and blinked at the three gazes that locked onto mine. "What?" 

::Enemy?:: 

"Er..." Thoughts of siccing my dragons on her when they were full grown flitted through my mind, but the fear of what she'd do to them if she caught them murdered that plan before it had even begun. "....no. That was Telca. She's....a friend." I've never had a dragon look at me as if I've just grown a second head before. "Well she is." 

I was halfway up the Main Stairs when a blue light surrounded me, a familiar psychic presence touching my thoughts as we were teleported into the Library. "Thanks." 

~I figured it was a good idea to get you and the hatchlings somewhere safe.~ At my curious look, he sighed. ~Telca set Mischief loose.~ 

Oh joy. The demon cat that had stolen the egg and used it as a plaything two weeks ago was loose. Greaaat. "Double thanks then," I said as I went and closed the Library doors before walking over to the couch and set the dragons down on a pillow, dropping a handful of Ham pieces into their midst as I did so. "Stay." 

::Elfy!:: 

I rolled my eyes at the flashes of bright happy colours that accompanied the mental call and headed for the fiction bookcases. "So what brought about this sudden change in attitude, 'Two? Usually you can barely stand to be touched, hate it when I ask you to teleport me somewhere...." 

There was a sound that could have been an embarrassed cough. ~I....uh....~ 

A quick glance over at him awarded me with the first good look I had gotten of him when he had his complete guard down. The sight tugged at my conscience. "Hey.... you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I didn't mean it like--" 

~No. No, it's alright.~ I watched him as he walked over to me and reached out to pick a random book off the shelf. ~I suppose that I never really knew if you truly wanted me here or not. If you were just putting up with me just so that I would teach you how to use your psychic abilities....~ He trailed off and looked at me, backing away moments later at the angry glare I was giving him. ~Wait. Let me finish!~ I lowered the book I was about to beat him with and arched an eyebrow. ~I just didn't know. After all the times I've been betrayed... I just didn't want it to happen again....~ 

I didn't say anything. Actually, I was still debating whether or not to smack him with the book. 

Mewtwo glanced at me and apparently decided to get to the point. ~I just.... Thank you. For last night.~ 

Then I blinked. "What? What for? For waking you up at 3 in the morning?" Then it dawned. That was exactly what he was doing. "You didn't think that I trusted you that much, hmm? Y'know I've still got half a mind to smack you with this." I waved the book at him threateningly. "After all the times I let you rummage around in my head I'd have thought you'd knew me better." 

I let him squirm a bit before lowering the book and shaking my head in disbelief. "You will never cease to amaze me, y'know that O Thickheaded One?" He smirked at the title, obviously more comfortable on familiar ground. 

~As if you're one to talk.~ Yep. He was better. Good. I had enough on my hands without having to worry about a depressed Harem Member. Oh Lords...depressed Harem member... Malcho! 

I was halfway to the door before an inquisitive squeak reminded me of my new charges. "'Two! Can you watch the hatchlings for five minutes? I gotta go tell Malcho that Telca's not going to make him lay anything." 

He nodded, and I grinned at him before breaking out into a full run, heading for my Wing of the Palace in the hopes that Malcho was still in his room. Actually there wasn't much of a chance that he wasn't. He had locked himself in there two days ago, and had refused to come out no matter what I said. At least now I knew why. 

I skidded around a corner, yelped at the carpet burn I now had on the soles of my bare feet, and half-ran, half-limped over to a door, cursing softly under my breath as I leaned on the wall and proceeded to pound on the door hard enough that I could feel the vibrations through the wall. 

"Malcho!! Yo, c'mon! Let me in!" No answer. "Either let me in or I'll Dragon Slave the door!" Aha! Instant response! I shoved the door open a little wider and walked in, closing it behind me before looking around me. It always amazed me how peaceful Malcho's room was, granted with all the plants he had in there, it was like a forest, and I loved forests. "Malcho? Hun, you're being a moron, where the hell are you?" You'd think it would be easy to spot a 50 foot long purple quetzacoatl in a room full of green. 

"Amiga, there is nothing you can say that will make me leave this room." I turned at the rumble and looked up into the eyes of my third favorite Harem member. 

"If you're talking about Telca's little....plan. It's not gonna happen. Honestly, did you really think I'd let her hurt you?" 

"Actually I thought that you wouldn't be able to stop her." Make that fourth favorite Harem member. 

I grumbled out something inappropriate and headed for the door. "Fine. If you don't want to come see the hatchlings that's your decision," I growled, slamming the door behind me, smothering a snicker as I walked down the hallway a bit before stopping and leaning against the wall. _Three....two....one....._

The door was nearly ripped off it hinges as Malcho yanked it open and slithered out into the hallway. "Lashana! Wai--" He paused when he saw me grinning at him and rolled his eyes. "I should have known." 

"So! You quite finished acting like a-" 

"Don't say it," he groaned, raising a wing in a silent bid for me to shut up. I blinked. "When did it hatch?" 

"Oh, 'bout an hour ago. Mewtwo's looking after them right now," I answered as I headed back to the Library, waiting for my wording to sink in. I got halfway to my destination before Malcho caught up to me. 

"'Them'? Amiga, did you say _them?!_" 

I grinned and waved three fingers in front of his nose. "Yeppers. Now all I have to do is figure out what to name them..." The Library doors were closed when we got there, so I shrugged and opened a portal, stepping out into my favorite room in the Palace and inadvertently startling Mewtwo. "Whoops. Sorry." I stepped aside and let Malcho come through, waiting until he had coiled his entire length into the room before closing the portal. 

Excited hisses and squeaks punctuated my return. ::Elfy!:: 

"Yes, I came back," I sighed as I leaned over the back of the couch and looked at the three pairs of eyes that were staring up at me, dimly aware that Malcho has craned his neck to look over my shoulder. The green and the blue seemed to love the ham I had left for them, but the white one, he was just sitting to the side... "What's with him?" 

~He won't eat,~ Mewtwo told me, meeting my panicked gaze when I jerked my head up to look at him. Truth be told, Zelgadis' earlier remark had hit close to lots of my own worries. ~He absolutely refuses to eat any more of the ham.~ 

Crap. I was running out of ideas. What the hell did dragons eat anyway? Meat sure, but we hadn't done a grocery lately, and I was certain the hatchling wouldn't want the three meat pizza leftovers in the fridge. 

"Hey! I was wondering where you had disappeared to," Kang greeted us as he shoved the doors open and strolled in, a half-eaten sandwich in his right hand. "Is everything alright?" 

I was about to answer when movement on the couch drew my attention, and I stared as the little white dragon sniffed at the air before chirping excitedly. ::Hungry!:: Impatient yellow and orange tones accompanied the cry and I blinked as I followed it's gaze to a baffled Kang. 

"What?" 

"What kind of sandwich is that?" I demanded as I lept over the couch and snatched it from him, lifting the top layer of bread to discover that Kang had seemingly found a can of salmon in the almost bare cupboards. "This is perfect!" 

"That's my lunch!" the Draconian protested as I headed back to the couch, sandwich in hand. "Hey give that ba--" He cut himself off in mid rant as I tossed the top layer of bread into a garbage can then knelt in front of the couch and scooped a bit of the fish onto the tip of my right index finger. 

"Is this what you want?" I murmured to the white hatchling, smiling in pure relief when tones of green and blue flashed across my minds eye accompanied by the happy chirp of the dragon that had just eaten the fish offered and gone for the rest of the sandwich. "These things should come with instruction labels." 

~Aw. But then we'd miss the wonders of seeing your maternal instincts in action.~ 

"Don't make me hurt you," I growled, glaring at the pokemon over my shoulder. "I do _not _have maternal instincts." 

"Uh huh," Kang grinned. "Suuuure you don't." 

I grumbled and turned my attention back to the dragons. What was I going to call them? _Think brain. Think, think, think....oh my Gods I sound like Winnie the pooh. This is what happens when I don't have my morning coffee...._ I blinked and glanced back at where Mewtwo, Kang and Malcho were standing, half-listening as Mewtwo explained about the telepathic link the dragons had with me while I stared at the hatchlings in question.... "I've got it!!" 

The three Guys yelped at my cry and stared at me as I ran for a bookshelf. "You've got what? A psychotic episode?" 

"Shut up Kang!" I grumbled, lobbing a book at him before returning my attention to the book titles in front of me. "Aha! There they are!" I grabbed my three favorite fantasy books and carried them back to the couch. 

Mewtwo watched me with a level of worry that suggested that I looked positively insane. ~What's wrong?~ 

"Nothing! I just figured out their names," I beamed as I opened the first book (Mercedes Lackey! Yay!) and shifted through a few pages. "There it is." I reached out and gently pulled a loose feather from Malcho's right wing, ignoring the glare he sent me as I waved the feather around a bit then tapped the blue dragon on it's snout with it. "I dub thee Kalamadea!" 

Thus said, I tossed the book over my shoulder, managing to hit Kang with it in the process before grabbing the second book and pulling a sheet of old paper out of it. 

"What's that?" Malcho asked, peering at the paper curiously. 

"An old idea from a story I started writing a few years ago," I answered as I tapped the feather on the green hatchling's head. "You're Korin. No....no don't eat the feather... oy..." 

"You keep him away from me, amiga," Malcho grumbled when the feather came back mangled. 

"Wuss," Kang chuckled, yelping when I beaned him with the second book. 

~Serves you right,~ Mewtwo told Kang as I picked up the last book and started looking through it. 

I grinned as I found what I was looking for and looked down at the little white dragon. "Khordeshkhistriakhor." 

There was a silence that followed where a gnat could have sneezed and it would have sounded like a gunshot. 

~"_What?!_"~ 

The unified cry from the three males made me look back at them in amusement. "Akhor for short." 

Kang blinked. "Where the hell did you come up with that?!" 

"One of my favorite authors of course!" I chided him before crouching down to be at eye level with the three hatchlings. "You like?" I got a unified rainbow of cheerful colours that made my head spin. "I'll take that as a 'yes'." 

"They look stuffed," Malcho commented as Kalamadea and Korin curled up together, their gazes still fixed on me as they settled themselves down. 

I nodded in agreement, suddenly wondering what the hell I was supposed to do with them now, at least that's what I was doing until a light nudge on my right hand caught my attention. I looked down at the cutest little pout I ever did see and smiled as I scooped Akhor into my arms. 

I was dimly aware of Mewtwo smirking as Akhor climbed up my t-shirt until he reached my shoulder, but by then I was too busy worrying that he was going to fall to notice much of anything else. ~Relax. He's fine.~ 

"Says you," I grumbled as I felt Akhor curl up, his talons firmly embedded into the cotton on my shirt while his tiny tail was wound around a lock of my hair. 

"I'll be damned. He's practically invisible now," Kang chuckled. I would have smacked him had Kalamadea and Korin not started crying out for my attention. 

I now had a dragon sleeping on my right shoulder and two firmly nestled in my arms. To put it mildly, I was stuck. "Now what am I supposed to do?" 

~Come have breakfast for one thing. Er...I think I mean lunch,~ Mewtwo said, glancing at the clock that was on the wall. ~Lunch. I mean lunch.~ 

I followed his gaze and groaned when I saw that it was almost noon. "I want my coffee."   
  


Next Entry, coming soon!! 


	2. 03/27/02 Learning experiences

_Disclaimer : We (Lashana and Telca) own only ourselves, Mischief and Korin. The dragons are based on statues from Windstone Editions, the names of Kalamadea and Akhor belong to Mercedes Lackey and Elizabeth Kerner respectively, and none of the Harem Guys belong to us. (That's kinda depressing....) Anywho, read and enjoy!_   
  


03/27/02 Learning experiences   
  


It had been just over two weeks since Kalamadea, Korin and Akhor had hatched, and I think I went through two bottles of Tylenol. It wasn't that they were annoying, not at all, it's that they were the most curious things I had ever had the misfortune of knowing! They got into everything! The cookie jars, the cupboards, the _toilets_... I think I developed a twitch just trying to keep tabs on them. 

What complicated things a little was that they had doubled in size over the last two weeks. Which meant that their wings were now large enough to sustain their weight in flight. Oh how I wished that egg had held only held one dragon..... 

"Korin! Don't you dare! Ack!" I launched myself forward and caught him as he jumped off the top of the entertainment centre in the Living room, barely able to take a breath before I saw Kalamadea perched on the edge of the light fixture near the doorway. "No!" 

Still holding Korin, I flung myself towards the doorway and yelped when I didn't manage to clear the couch. I slammed my knees into it and gasped when my weight and momentum upended it, sending me crashing to the floor. I lay there for a moment, my arms stretched out in front of me, fingers still firmly curled around a wriggling Korin. Kalamadea landed on my head seconds later, sending my forehead down to meet the floor with a sickening thud. "Owww....." 

::Elfy?:: 

I groaned. "Yes, Kalamadea?" 

::Elfy hurt?:: 

"Elfy has headache now," I muttered, grimacing when shades of orange and red flashed in front of my minds eye. The dragons had steadily been expanding their vocabulary as they grew, and I had found that over the past two weeks, each of their mental 'voices' had gained distinctive tones, helping me tell them apart from each other. I had also been learning that the flashes of colour that I got from them usually gave away their emotional state. "I'm alright, Kalamadea. Just...get off my head." 

This had been the traditional day for the past week. I would run around trying to keep them from killing themselves, and get bruised, scratched and bitten by Telca's cat in the process. As it was, I had already wasted more than half the day. I needed a vacation, and I needed it badly. 

I had just managed to haul myself up into something that resembled a sitting position when Mischief arrived on the scene. Telca's cat, it seemed, thought that my dragons were play toys, and regularly chased them around the Palace. Once I had caught it with just the tip of Akhor's tail sticking out of it's mouth. I think the Gods themselves heard my scream that day. 

But my dragons didn't have to be taught twice. The moment Mischief padded into the room, they scrambled over to me and climbed up my shirt to perch on my shoulders, hissing at the cat in warning. Not that it did any good. If I was that cat, I wouldn't have been too afraid of something that was less than half my own size either. 

Spurred onwards by the fear that the cat would jump at one of my dragons, I hauled myself to my feet and glared down at her. "Not today, fuzzball." 

~Lashana?~ 

The rather soothing voice intruded on my thoughts, and I blinked as I glanced around for a minute. "I'm in the living room, 'Two." I knew the pokemon could hear me speak out loud, even if he wasn't in the room. He had tried to explain that to me once, but I had been too decaffeinated to care. 

Blue light flashed from behind me, and I felt my two dragons tighten their grips on my hair as I turned to look at the resident pokemon that had just teleported into the room. "What's up?" 

He stared at the upended couch and frowned. ~What happened?~ 

"These two," I gestured to Korin and Kalamadea, "were trying to fly." 

~Jumped off the light fixture again, hmm?~ he chuckled, eyeing the two on my shoulders. ~Damned if I know how they get up there in the first place.~ 

"Tell me about it," I sighed, a smile spreading over my lips as Kalamadea rubbed his head against my cheek. _I'm turning soft...._ Sharp stabbing pain in my right leg yanked me out of my thoughts, and I growled as I stared down at Mischief as the cat tried to climb up my leg. "Get. Off." I don't know how I did it, but she hopped down, gave me a disgusted look, and promptly strolled out of the room. 

~It's freaky now much she's like Telca,~ Mewtwo commented as he walked over to me, using a bit of his psychic powers to right the couch. ~Anyway, have you seen Akhor?~ 

I immediately went into panic mode. "Oh shit." Closing my eyes, I reached for the link I had with my dragons, frowning in concentration as I followed the third thread of draconic thought... "Oh dear lords!" 

~What?~ Mewtwo called as I shoved Kalamadea and Korin into his arms and promptly bolted from the room. I was dimly aware of him running after me as I barreled my way through the Palace. 

"Out of the way!" I followed my warning up with a few well-aimed Diem Wind spells, literally blowing Harem Members out of my way as I raced out onto the Deck and looked up. There, perched on the edge of the roof, was Akhor. He looked down at me, gave me a draconic grin, then spread his wings and jumped. 

I reacted without thinking. 

As the white form tried vainly to get his wings to hold his weight, I took a running start and threw myself off the deck. Akhor slammed into my outstretched arms seconds later, and I hugged him to my chest as I twisted in midair, shielding him with my body as I crashed into the ground. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

~Lashana? Lashana!~ 

The voice tugged at my consciousness, pulling me out of a warm comfortable darkness back into a plane of wakefulness that brought about aches and pains that I didn't even know my body could have. I groaned and forced my eyes open, grimacing at the bright sunlight before something moved to block the unholy light. "Ow." 

::Elfy!:: The cry was accompanied by three separate weights that settled on my shoulders, small scaled bodies curling up as close to me as they could get. ::Elfy okay!:: 

"You really are insane." I glanced to the side and saw a frazzled looking Kang kneeling next to me. I didn't know draconians could go so pale. 

"Thanks," I croaked, closing my eyes and grimacing as I weakly tried to shove myself up into a sitting position, feeling the dragons cling to my hair and shirt. Hands cradled my shoulders and supported me as I was gently raised upwards, and I grasped at the warm feathered wings that curled around me when a wave of dizziness hit me. 

~Hold still.~ Oh yeah. As if I was going to leap to my feet and start a triathlon. I felt fingers on my temples and sighed gratefully as the dizziness and pain were washed away, leaving me dazed, but otherwise okay. 

Now that I wasn't going to throw up because of said dizziness, I opened my eyes and blinked up into worried pale green eyes. "Hi." 

Malcho hissed. "You really are insane, chica." Ooo. I think I really did it this time. 

"That's been said that already." 

"We're making sure you heard us," Kang growled, glaring at me angrily. 

"I heard. I'm also thinking of a way to keep this little incident from reaching Black," I said as I held a hand out to Mewtwo. "Help?" 

He sighed but grasped my hand and carefully pulled me to my feet, supporting me when I staggered. ~Are you alright?~ 

"I'll get back to you on that," I muttered as I carefully removed all the dragons from my shoulders and held them in my arms, glaring down at them. "Listen up. No more death leaps off the roof. Actually, no more jumping off of anything higher than the back of the couch, comprende?? You're going to get yourselves killed! Either that or you're going to give me a heart attack!" The trio had the good graces to look ashamed as they all gazed up at me with big sorrow-filled eyes. Damn that puppy-dog look! I sighed in defeat and hugged them all, letting them wriggle out of my hold to cling to my shirt and hair. 

"Are you certain that you're alright, mi amiga?" 

I sighed again and looked over at Malcho. "No. Not really. I think I'm gonna go lie down....or pass out. Whichever happens first." 

I was dimly aware of the three Guys exchanging worried looks with each other as I turned and trudged my way up the deck stairs. This taking care of three dragons thing was going to be the end of me. I loved them dearly, but I hadn't had a decent night's sleep in two weeks thanks to their demanding late-night hunger pangs, or the sudden unpredictable bursts of energy which would turn them into Tiny Terrors of Hyper Destruction. Add to that the fact that I was running myself raw trying to keep them from accidentally killing or hurting themselves, and I was one exhausted Elf. 

A tiny scaled head nudged my cheek ::Elfy?:: 

"Yea Korin?" 

::Okay?:: 

"Yea. M'just tired." I headed upstairs and located one of the free TV rooms in my wing of the Palace, sighing heavily as I let myself sink into the old worn-out couch. It was one of those couches where if you sat down, you swore you'd never be able to get back up. That suited me just fine : I didn't want to get back up. Hell, I didn't even want to move. 

Kalamadea quickly relocated himself onto the arm of the couch as I lay down on my stomach, groaning softly. ::Elfy sleep now.:: 

I blinked at his stern commanding tone and lifted my head to look at him, meeting his light blue gaze. "Huh?" 

::You sleep. We watch over you.:: Yeah okay. Like I was going to pass up sleep. Ha. I smiled at him and reached out to rub at a spot between his horns before lowering my hand and pulling a pillow under my head. The sensation of Akhor and Korin curling up on my back was the last thing that registered before I let the lure of an exhausted sleep take hold. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

::....hungry....:: 

_No.... not now...._ I moaned and pulled a cushion over my head, trying to go back to sleep. _Lemme 'lone. Sleepin'._

::Hungry.:: 

_I'm not listening! Lalalala!!!_

::_HUNGRY!!_:: 

"ACK!" 

A trio of draconic giggles reached me. ::Hungry!:: 

_Oh my gods...what time is it?_ I rose my face from the cushion and blearily squinted over at the VCR clock, groaning when I managed to make out a three a one and a four. _Noooo......_

Tiny talons dug into my shoulders. ::Hungry!:: 

_Eat the couch._

::Ew.:: 

I had to chuckle at that. "Awright. M'up." It took me a moment longer to convince my body to move before I managed to haul myself to my feet, swaying slightly. Three heat sources attached themselves to me then. One on my left sleeve, one on my right, and one on my right shoulder. _I want to go back to sleep..._

Flashes of bright red, orange and yellow colours spurred me onwards. ::Hungry!:: 

Grumbling, I staggered over to the door and pulled it open, walking out and coming face to chest with Mewtwo. _Wha?_

~They're hungry again, hmm?~ he commented, the tone of his mental voice telling me that he hadn't been awake much longer than I had. It was disgusting how early some creatures could wake up at. 

I mumbled out a response and trudged past him, moving on autopilot as I headed for the Kitchen. The dragons had a nice chorus of 'hungry' going on in my head, the rainbow of colours making me wince before someone other than me rose a psychic dampening field in my head. "T'anks." 

~No problem,~ Mewtwo said as he came up beside me, discreetly guiding me towards the stairs. ~How much sleep did you get?~ 

"Not n'uff," I yawned, one hand gripping the banister as I started down the flight of stairs. "What're ya doin' up again?" This wasn't the first time he had gotten up with me to feed the hatchlings. Not that I minded, but I was curious. 

~I heard them. I thought you could use my help again.~ 

I smiled. He really was turning out to be a big sweetie. 

~Just don't spread it around,~ he added, obviously listening in on my thoughts. I decided that I wasn't awake enough to care about whether he was in my head. He was keeping the trio from giving me a migraine, that was all that mattered. 

We reached the Kitchen moments later, and I yawned again as I went over to the cupboard and rummaged around in it before pulling out a can of salmon and a can of chicken. Not the best of meals, but the trio seemed to love it and it was easy on the wallet, so hey, who was I to judge? 

I let Mewtwo take them from me as I fought with the can opener, knowing that Korin especially would try to crawl into the can as I was in the process of opening it. I had barely finished upending the cans into two bowls before they were attacked by the hatchlings. Akhor practically landed _in _the bowl. 

A large, furry and warm body moved to stand next to me then, and I took advantage of it, leaning against Mewtwo and resting my head on his chest. The sensation of arms going around my waist added to the extreme comfort, and I yawned softly as I snuggled closer. 

~Don't you fall asleep on me again,~ he murmured in my thoughts. Oh please. That only happened twice... er... make that three times.... Well you try getting up at 3 in the morning everyday for two weeks and see how long you can stay awake! Hmpft. 

"I wouldn't.....do.....that......" Okay.... So I lied. Sue me. 

~Oh for the love of....~ 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

Warm. I was warm. And comfortable. Very comfortable. I didn't want to move. But someone was calling me. What did they want? Couldn't they see I was busy? 

"Lashana!! What the hell are you doing?!?" 

My they were loud. Didn't they have any respect for people who were trying to sleep? I tried to reason with whoever it was. "Gmft!" Okay...so maybe it would've helped if my face wasn't buried against something warm and furry. 

"_Lashana!_" 

_What fine hell awaits me now?_ I cracked open an eye and peeked through a curtain of my own hair, making out the form of my Bonded above me. _Hmm...sleep or fight? Sleep or fight? Better go with sleep._ I was seconds away from reentering that place between full sleep and half-sleep when a hand closed on my arm and yanked me to my feet. I, of course, protested. "What the flamin' hell are you doin'?! _LET GO!!_" 

Loud hisses sounded from behind me, echoing my anger, and I glanced back at my three dragons who were perched on a sleeping Mewtwo's side, glaring at Blackwargreymon. Waiiiit a minute. _This is Mewtwo's room...I must've fallen asleep in the kitchen again...._ I looked at my rather pissed off Bonded and sighed. "It's not what you think." 

He growled lowly and folded his arms over his chest. "No? So I didn't just find you sleeping with Mewtwo? Is this why you haven't come to bed lately? You've been here?" 

Ooo. Bad idea. I returned the glare with one of my own and snarled, fangs bared. I was seconds away from going into a screaming fit that would have made Telca proud when a hand landed on my right shoulder. 

~You're an idiot, Blackwargreymon, if you think she'd leave you,~ Mewtwo growled. I glanced back at him and frowned when I saw that his eyes were glowing blue. Bad sign. ~In case you haven't noticed, the hatchlings are very much like babies. For the past two weeks they've been waking up at three in the morning, demanding to be fed. Four nights ago I went downstairs and found Lashana asleep in the Kitchen, and since the hatchlings can't sleep with you snoring away like you've been doing, I brought them here. Or haven't you noticed that she's been exhausted these past few days?~ 

Wow. Mewtwo to the rescue. 

I glanced over at my Bonded, noting the shocked look in his eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?" he whispered, looking at me curiously. 

A blue form landed on my left shoulder and hissed, tiny wings spreading. ::She try. You tell her you talk later. You leave with others for football game!:: 

I gaped and exchanged shocked glances with Mewtwo. Hadn't realized their vocabulary had grown that much. I nearly fainted from surprise when Korin landed on Mewtwo's arm. ::You not help her! Daddy only one who helps!:: 

Whoa a minute! "Daddy?!" I repeated as I gathered Kalamadea and Korin into my arms, staring down at them. "You think Mewtwo's your _father_!?" Akhor chose that moment to land on my now free left shoulder, rubbing his head against my neck. 

::Elfy mommy. Big purple one is daddy.:: 

"Holy shit...they can talk...." Blackwargreymon made a sound between a choke and a groan. "I-I didn't know..... Lashana....." 

I looked from my now mortified Bonded, to a catatonic Mewtwo, then to the trio. "I think I need a drink." 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

It took the better part of an hour and three coffees for me to calm Blackwargreymon down and assure him that he was forgiven and that I wasn't about to go cavorting off with Mewtwo. It didn't help that Mewtwo chose that moment to be a pain-in-the-arse : curling his arm around my shoulders and announcing that next time we'd try for quintuplets. 

While Blackwargreymon sputtered, I busied myself with slamming my forehead against the kitchen's counter until a worried squeak made me stop. I groaned and rose my gaze to where Akhor and Korin were sitting on the counter in front of me, sighing when flashes of worried oranges and yellows assaulted my minds eye. "M'alright." 

Mewtwo, meanwhile, was fighting a loosing battle with Kalamadea. ~Mewtwo.~ 

::Daddy!:: 

~No. Mewtwo.~ 

::Daddy!!:: 

~No. Mewtwo.~ 

::Daddy!:: 

~No! Mewtwo!~ 

::DADDY!!:: 

~Oh this is hopeless....~ 

"Okay wait. Why exactly do they think _you're _the parents?" My my, that's the first intelligent sentence Black's been able to manage in the past hour. 

"Not a clue," I sighed as I reached for my coffee mug, frowning when I saw that it was empty. "Nuts." 

~I think they imprinted on us,~ Mewtwo said as I got up to refill my coffee mug. ~The first male and female they see immediately after they hatch automatically become their parents...at least to them.~ 

"That's fricked up," I muttered. It was a house rule that no one could majorly curse around the hatchlings. They picked up on _everything_. "I mean, what happened if they saw Mischief first? Or, Goddess forbid, Xellos?!" 

~I don't think you should dwell on that too much,~ the pokemon told me while I carried the pot over and refilled his own empty coffee mug. 

"Then what about that bit when you and the others gave her the egg? About only Lashana being allowed to touch it?" 

Mewtwo looked at the Digimon in surprise. ~I had forgotten about that. It was because the hatchling inside would attune themselves to whomever handled...the...egg.... Oh my god....~ 

"What?" I frowned, shaking him when he didn't answer. "What?!" 

Wide amethyst eyes locked onto mine. ~The egg.... I was the one that picked it up when we were at the market.....~ 

"So that's why you can hear them. They're tuned to you too." I glanced over at my Bonded and sighed. "I'm sorry." 

"For what? You couldn't help this," he said as he reached out to rub the pad of a finger over Akhor's back, smiling when the hatchling gave a little purr of pleasure and arched his back. "I should have asked before...." 

~Before acting like some rampaging moron?~ 

The groan that escaped me drew the two male's gazes to me. " Black, you have to learn how to start trusting me, else I'm putting you on Prozac. Mewtwo, stop picking on him. Now, I am going back to that hammock, and I'm going to get a few more hours sleep." I stood up as I finished speaking, letting the three dragons get a good grip on my shirt before heading out of the room.... 

::Hungry!:: 

_Noooooo!!_   
  
  
  


_Next Entry, coming soon! (Sooner if we get more reviews ^_~ )_


	3. 04/01/02 After Easter

_Disclaimer : We (Lashana and Telca) own only ourselves, Mischief and Korin. The dragons are based on statues from Windstone Editions, the names of Kalamadea and Akhor belong to Mercedes Lackey and Elizabeth Kerner respectively, and none of the Harem Guys belong to us. (That's kinda depressing....) Anywho, read and enjoy!_   
  


04/01/02 After Easter   
  


::Hungry!:: 

_Oh Gods no...._

::Elfy! Daddy! Hungry!:: 

~Don't call me 'daddy'....~ 

::Daddy!:: 

~My name is Mewtwo.~ 

::Daddy!:: 

~Mewtwo!~ 

::_DADDY!_:: 

~Oh the hell with this. Lashana? Lashana wake up.~ 

_No. Not moving. You can't make me._ I grabbed a pillow and pulled it over my head. 

~Does that actually work?~ 

"Mfprt." 

~What?~ 

_Yes._ The hammock swung slightly as the body next to me shifted, stealing a portion of my pillow that I was using to either block out the voices or render myself unconscious via suffocation. Whichever happened first was fine with me. 

::_HUNGRY!!_:: 

"Nfrt." _Go away._

::Elfy!:: 

"Hmpfrt." _Please go away._

::_HUNGRY!!!_:: 

"Wrfmt." _Why me Gods? Why?_

~This isn't working.~ 

_Shut up, you._ I shoved the pillow off of my head and rose my gaze to the small green dragon that was perched on the anchor of the hammock almost directly above me, a mischievous glint in his eyes as he glanced down at the knot under his talons. "Don't you dare." 

::Hungry!:: And the little bastard bit through the knot. 

"WAAAH!" _THUD!_ "Owww......" 

::Hehehe!:: 

~That one _definitely_ takes after you,~ Mewtwo grumbled from where he was lying on the floor next to me, our feet firmly entangled in the blankets and the half of the hammock that was still secured to the ceiling. 

I growled at him and lowered my head to bang my forehead against the floor. It had been just under a week, but in that time, the hatchlings had developed their own attitudes. Kalamadea was the protective intellectual one that reminded me of a Wise Dragon from a legend I had once read. Akhor was the cuddler and quiet observer that tended to steal food when no one was looking, then spit it up under the couch if he didn't like it. And Korin....Korin was the trouble-maker. It's hard to imagine something the height of a hardcover fiction book being a trouble maker, but Lords Above, he excelled at it. Especially since the trio had finally figured out how to fly : he regularly led the them on dive-bombing missions against Telca's cat, Mischief. 

They had all acquired fully distinctive voices too. Akhor's was soft and calm. Kalamadea's was a low tenor, surprising for something his size. Korin's voice was much like Kalamadea's only his had a cooler, slightly sinister edge to it. Especially when he was pulling a prank. 

"Korin. You're getting leftovers for breakfast," I grumbled as I tried to fight my way free of the blankets, only succeeding in getting myself even more entangled. _Ahh! Get it off! Get it off! I'm half-asleep and the blankets are trying to keep me from my coffee!!_

~Calm down,~ Mewtwo chuckled, as he grabbed my arm and simply teleported us out of the mess. 

"Oooh. What time is it?" I groaned as I grabbed one of my extra housecoats and pulled it on over my shorts and tank-top. I had started out the night in my usual bed with my Bonded, but when the dragons had dragged me out of bed and down to the Kitchen, I hadn't managed to make it back to my room. _How the hell did I get here again anyway?_

~I found you sleeping upright against the fridge,~ the pokemon supplied. ~And it's eight am.~ 

"Oh. Thanks. And get out of my head." I turned towards the door, took a step, and promptly tripped over a pillow, re-establishing my forehead's love of the hardwood floor. "This is getting old." 

~You're telling me,~ Mewtwo smirked as he walked over and helped me to my feet, his gaze going to the floor afterwards. ~I think you left a dent.~ 

_Oooh. Funny._

~Thanks.~ 

"Get out of my head!" 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

"The little darlings got hungry again, hmm?" Duncan greeted us as Mewtwo and I walked into the kitchen. Well...he walked. I was riding piggy-back. I mean hey, he's 6'7" and 279 lbs, carrying me is nothing! 

~When are they not hungry?~ Mewtwo sighed as he knelt and let me dismount. It took me a moment for my body to register that it was now supposed to move under it's own power before I managed to stagger over to the coffee machine. 

::Hungry!:: 

I glared at the trio that flew into the Kitchen, watching as they all took separate perches around the room. "You can wait. I need coffee. Coffee is the only thing that keeping me alive at this point!" 

Akhor hissed plaintively. ::Hungry!!:: 

::Shh! Mommy has a headache,:: Kalamadea said, flying over to Akhor and lightly smacking him with a wing. 

"And stop calling me 'mommy'!" 

::Elfy!:: 

I rolled my eyes towards the ceiling. "Goddess give me strength." 

At this point, I was so absorbed in my need for caffeine that I hadn't noticed that Duncan had been kind enough to get out the cans of salmon and chicken, three bowls and the can opener. At least I didn't until I turned around. "Thanks, MacLeod." 

"No problem. You look like you need a vacation." 

"I'd settle for a new bottle of Tylenol threes," I sighed, setting my cup of coffee aside as I went about opening the cans. I was the only one that could safely do this. Anyone else who tried to feed them would be immediately attacked by three starving dragons. Kang still hadn't gotten those stitches out of his arm yet.... 

~You're still getting headaches?~ Mewtwo frowned as he poured himself a cup of coffee, warily standing back as I carried the three bowls of food over to the table and gave the signal for the dragons to eat. I barely managed to duck out of the way. 

"Yeah. They're not getting worse....but they're not getting any better either," I told him as I watched Korin balance on the edge of the bowl, his neck fully extended so that he could bury his head _into_ the bowl. _My Gods....how can they eat like that? They're like mini vacuum cleaners!_

Duncan handed me my cup of coffee and a box of ovation stick mints. "I can go out and get another bottle if you want," he offered, watching with wide eyes as I guzzled down the coffee then went to refill my mug. 

"Nah. I'll overdose on pills the way I'm going. I'll adapt." Mewtwo stared at me from where he was sitting at the island counter, the intense scrutiny I was being given making me look over at him. "What?" 

~Will you let me try something? I promise that I won't go near your private thoughts, but I think I know what's going on.~ I blinked at him over the rim of my mug, raising an eyebrow curiously. ~To put it plainly... you've got too many psychic links going.~ 

_I could've told you that._ I sighed and walked over to him. "Go ahead then. But what are you going to do?" 

~Think of them as dampening fields. As long as you don't object, I can place them on the Links and psychically monitor them for you. Until you have the time to let me teach you how to do it on your own, that is.~ 

"Well, you're always in my head anyway. This won't be much different," I teased lightly, earning myself a trademarked smirk from the pokemon. "Alright. Go ahead then." There was a tiny belch from the direction of the table. "Korin excuse yourself." 

Mewtwo chuckled and rose his hands. ~Close your eyes.~ He waited until I had done so before I felt him rest his hands on my forehead, thumbs on my temples and the other two digits on the sides of my head. I did my best to keep myself as calm as I could as I sensed him ease himself into my mind. I damn near cheered with joy seconds later when the headache vanished. Gone as quickly as it had appeared a week ago. 

~I'll be damned.~ 

_That's never a good thing to say when you're in my head, 'Two._ I thought at him as I opened my eyes to meet his still glowing gaze, knowing that he'd hear me. 

He chuckled and pulled away, the blue sheen fading from his eyes. ~You know how the dragons think we're their parents?~ 

_Kinda hard not to considering they call us 'mommy' and 'daddy'._

~You're not going to believe this, but your headache's caused by the telepathic link that they've been building between the two of us.~ 

_What?!_ I figured that was worth a double scream. "What?!" Both Mewtwo and Duncan winced. "Oooh. Blacky's gonna go postal...." 

"Who's gonna do what now?" 

I glanced over at Kang as he strolled into the Kitchen and mustered up a smile. "Hey. How's your arm?" 

"Itchy," he grumbled, idly scratching at the thick bandage on his left forearm. 

"Wish you'd just let me Heal you," I sighed as I slid onto a stool next to Mewtwo, reaching out to grab my box of Ovation stick mints, barely managing to save them from a dive-bombing Kalamadea. "Mine." 

::Daaaaaddy!:: 

~Oh no! Don't you look at me like that!~ The pokemon, like me, was extremely vulnerable to the big-eyes treatment. ~No.... Aw hell. That's so cute...~ 

I grumbled and broke a piece off my mint, handing it to Kalamadea before looking at a chuckling Kang. "Shut up." 

"I said nothing!" he grinned. "So who's gonna go postal?" 

Akhor and Korin landed on my shoulders then, distracting me from the explanation Mewtwo was giving to Duncan and Kang. I grumbled some more and gave the little terrors small pieces of chocolate before they tried to mob Kalamadea. Not that it would work, Kalamadea was the biggest of the three, and he had mine and Mewtwo's stubbornness. Not that that was a good thing.... 

"Wait wait. So how many psychic links do you have going?" Kang asked, startling me out of my silent reverie. 

"Uh....five." 

"Geez," Duncan muttered. "No wonder you're getting headaches." 

_Naw, really? You think?_ "Kang, don't even _think_ about giving Korin any coffee." The draconian glanced at me guiltily. I glared. He winced. I kept glaring. He gave the hatchling to Duncan. "That's better." I looked towards the doorway as a familiar heavy tread come our way and smiled at my Bonded. "Well hello. You're up early." 

"Got woken up by Zelgadis' screaming," he shrugged as he came over to me and hugged me. I arched an eyebrow at him when his hands wandered. "So how are you this morning, Lashana-chan?" 

I did a double take. "What?!" 

He blinked at me. "How are you?" 

"You called me 'Lashana-chan'." 

"Er....I did?" 

~Yes.~ I saw Mewtwo frown at the Digimon. 

"And why the hell are your eyes purple?! Oh....my....gods...." 

The double of my Bonded leered at me. "Yare, yare. You saw through the spell, Lashana-chan!" 

"AAHHH!!!! GETOFFGETOFFGETOFF!!!!" Xellos may be immortal and near indestructible, but the body of my Bonded that he was currently in wasn't. Thankfully I wasn't the only one who realized this. 

"Lashana! Catch!" 

_WHAM!! WHAM!! WHAM!!_

"...ow..." _THUD!_

I looked down at the unconscious Digimon-Double on the floor and handed the greatly dented frying pan back to Duncan. "Thanks." Three weights landed on me then, two clinging to the sleeves of my housecoat and one to the collar. A quick glance discovered that all three dragons were hissing protectively, glaring at the form on the floor angrily. 

~If Xellos is in his body....then....~ Mewtwo and I exchanged horrified glances. 

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!?!?!" 

The echoes of the scream faded moments later, giving us the chance for our ears to pop and recover before insane cackles filled the air. I groaned. 

"April Fools! Hehe!" I looked over at the portal behind me as Telca stuck her head through it, a shit-eating grin plastered on her face. 

"I'll get you for this," I growled. 

"Ha! Like to see you try!" she laughed as she retreated into the portal and closed it behind her. 

I snarled. "This means war!!" 

::Mommy? Daddy? What 'April Fools'?:: Kalamadea asked from his perch on my right shoulder. 

"Mewtwo don't you dare....wait. Wait that's _perfect!_" 

He looked at me disapprovingly. ~You can't seriously be thinking of using them to get back at Telca!~ 

"'Use' is such an ugly term," I smiled. "Gather 'round boys. The Elf's got a plan!" 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

I, of course, got damage duty. Which meant that I had to go calm Blackwargreymon down before his screams deafened everyone in the Palace. _Sigh. The things I do for some people...._ My dragons were doing aerobatics above me as they followed me to my bedroom, nearly frightening me out of my wits when they did dangerously close flybys of light fixtures, walls, and the occasional Harem Member. However, they all took their usual perches on my shoulders and arms as I cautiously entered the bedroom, flashes of yellows and reds telling me that they were as on edge as I was. "Black?" 

A whimper drew my attention to the form that was cocooned in blankets on the bed. A form that was much too small to be my Bonded....at least normally. I sighed and walked over to him, sitting on the edge of the bed and tugging at the blanket until a single golden eye blinked up at me. "Hey," I murmured softly. 

He groaned and pulled the blanket over his head again. "Don't look at me." 

"If it makes you feel better, Xellos is unconscious downstairs. Once he transforms back into his own body, he'll find that he's crazy glued to a chair that's in front of a TV." 

"Teletubbies?" 

"And Care Bears and Barney," I smiled, seeing the form under the blankets shiver. "You do realize why Telca did this...right?" 

"Because she's a psycho warbitch from hell?" 

I chuckled. "It's April Fool's Day." 

There was a moment of silence before I heard a low threatening growl. "Tell me you're going to get her back." 

"Of course I'm going to get her back!" I scoffed as Akhor jumped off my shoulder and proceeded to wriggle his way under the blankets. I didn't stop him. Black could use some comfort right now, and if he wouldn't let me help him, then the cuddliest dragon would. 

"Good. Oh.... Why is Akhor grinning at me?" 

"Because he knows it's you. They recognise people by sight _and _empathy. If one's being fooled, then the other sense takes over." I smiled at Kalamadea as I spoke. He had been the one to show me that. It still amazed me how intelligent the trio was despite their young age. "If you're not coming out of there, then I'll let Akhor stay while the rest of us go wage war on Telca." 

"Rest?" The blankets shifted until a pair of golden eyes could blink at me. "You're corrupting the dragons, aren't you?" 

"One of them is already corrupted," I chuckled with a pointed look at Korin. 

The little green dragon showed his fangs in a draconic grin, eyes sparkling with mischief. ::Can I go play now, mommy?:: 

"Yes. And stop calling me 'mommy'." 

::Elfy?:: 

I looked away from the green dragon that was flying out of the room. "Yes, Kalamadea?" I blinked as flashes of purple, green and blue did a strobe light affect across my minds eye, then grinned. "Yeah. You can help. Just let me get changed...." Pause. "That means let go, by the way. Uh...Kalamadea? Let. Go." There was the distinct sound of a giggle. "Oy...." 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

While I was trying to pry Kalamadea from myself, Mewtwo and Kang were setting up the little 'trap' for Telca as Duncan played lookout for them. Little did I know that Telca's maniac side was far from satisfied by the prank she had already played. If I had even suspected the other three dozen traps she had set up around the Palace, I would have gathered my Guys and gone to Maui for a month. 

So imagine my surprise when I walked out of my bedroom just to have my clean outfit of sneakers, jeans and a light blue tank-top exposed to the silly-string bomb that exploded millimetres away from my face. I groaned and looked over at Kalamadea, sighing as I reached out to pick neon pink string off of his snout and wings. _Isn't Telca grand?_

::Elfy? What this?:: he asked as he clawed at a clump of string that was hanging off his horns. 

"This, young one, is called silly-string. Consider this your first lesson in prankster warfare." 

::....Icky.:: 

"That's because you're not supposed to eat it. Spit that out." I clawed the string out of my hair, pulled a clump out from under my shirt and took a step forward..... 

....just to get plastered by six water balloons. 

I sighed. "This is going to be a loooong day." 

Kalamadea shivered and cuddled closer to my neck, whimpering softly. ::Want daddy.:: 

There's nothing like a whimpering hatchling to make one determined to get it whatever the hell it wants. "Kay." I opened a portal - frankly I was afraid to take another step - and hopped through it, emerging in the Main Hall. "Uh....Guys?" 

::Daddy!:: 

I turned as Kalamadea launched himself off my shoulder towards someone behind me and stared at a sequined covered Mewtwo. "Oh my...." 

He winced and let the little dragon land on his shoulder, avoiding my gaze completely. ~Don't say it. Please don't say it.~ 

_Sequins! Hehehe!!_ I saw him glare at me and coughed. "I'm saying nothing. Where's Kang?" 

"Here." 

A quick glance in his direction afforded me with the sight of a draconian that had apparently been introduced to the same silly-string bomb that I had. "You too huh?" He nodded morosely, and I sighed as I walked over and reached up to remove most of the string that had gotten caught on his wingtips. "Where's Duncan?" 

The draconian grumbled. "Hiding out in the attic." 

::Daddy shiny!:: 

I snickered at the groan that Mewtwo let out and looked at a baffled Kang. "Kalamadea thinks 'Two looks shiny." Oh the glare I got from the pokemon would have melted glass. "What? You do. Actually....you're hurting my eyes." 

~I can't get them off. They've got some sort of adhesive on them,~ he grumbled. I snickered again and went over to him, gently picking off a few sequins that were dangerously close to his eyes. 

"It wouldn't be so bad if you didn't have fur," I commented as I picked a few more off. "Kalamadea, don't eat them. You'll choke." 

::Daddy look better purple.:: the hatchling said plaintively, turning big-eyes on the both of us. Oh how I wish I had a defence to that look.... 

"Y'know. We could always borrow Wolverine's shaver," Kang suggested, backing away when Mewtwo and I both glared at him. "Or not." 

"Can't you...oh I don't know...build a Barrier around your skin and push it outwards so it takes all the sequins off?" I suggested. 

The pokemon looked at me in shock. ~That's a great idea!~ 

I glared. "Try not to sound so surprised, okay?" 

~Sorry. Here, take Kalamadea.~ I sighed and accepted the hatchling, cradling him in my arms as I backed away. Kang an I both watched as Mewtwo's eyes started glowing blue, a faint shimmer appearing around him, growing into a full power Barrier as it separated the sequins from his body.... 

~YEOWCH!!!~ 

Apparently both he and I had forgotten to take into consideration that since the sequins were glued to him, removing them would also take considerable amounts of fur with them. Hence the fact that Mewtwo was hopping around while yelping incoherently. 

After taking a moment or two to try to get my snickering under control, I loosed a Healing spell on him, grinning when he heaved a sigh of relief before rubbing at a tiny bald spot just below his left arm. ~That hurt.~ 

"We could tell," Kang chuckled. I fwaped him while Kalamadea launched himself at Mewtwo, a squeak of pleasure escaping the little dragon when the pokemon caught him, letting him nuzzle against his chest. 

"There they are! Charge!!" 

"Oh shit, run!" I yelled as the team of Telca, Beast, Remy, Wolverine and Nightcrawler ran at us, each armed with cans of silly-string and suction-cup dart guns. I shoved Kang into a portal that led to somewhere in the Palace and grabbed Mewtwo's wrist, dragging him after me as I made a break for the front doors. I was dimly aware of him pulling out of my grasp as I slammed myself against said doors, throwing them open and proceeding to make a run for the neon yellow hedges near the Main Gates. 

Why were the hedges neon yellow, you ask? The same reason that driveway was a brilliant blue. Mainly the fact that the Easter Egg hunt we had done two days ago had turned into the most insane paint-war fight ever. Complete with an explosion of paint that had redecorated everything within a half-mile radius of the Palace. We were hoping that the next rainstorm would wash everything clean before we all went blind from overexposure to the bright neon pink lawn. 

~Lashana! Get on!~ 

_Huh?_ I glanced over at Mewtwo as he ran after me and blinked when he swerved so that he was directly infront of me. _Now?_

~Just do it!~ I rolled my eyes and leapt onto his back, surprised when my sudden added weight didn't even make him falter. ~Haven't you ever wondered why my legs are this huge?~ 

_I figured it was because of those cartons of Ding-Dongs you keep stealing from Telca every week.... WHOA!!!_ I yelped and threw my arms around the large purple shoulders, clinging to him tightly as he sped up. _Holy freakin' shit! Since when have you been able to do this?!_

~Always,~ he chuckled in my mind as he sped up even more, outdistancing Telca's group as he ran for the backyard. 

_Why didn't you TELL me?! You're incredible!_ I threw my head back and cackled. "YAAAHHHOOO!!!!! HAHAHA!!!" 

~Ack. That was my ear you just yelled into.~ 

_Oh. So THAT'S what those horn things are. _"Sorry!" I grinned, yelping when he leapt _over_ the pool, then landed without missing a stride. "This is so frickin' _kewl!_" 

::Frickin' kewl!:: 

I gulped and looked at Kalamadea where he was hanging onto Mewtwo's shoulder. "Whoops. Forgot about the impressionable mind." 

~Nice going Lashana. Uh oh. Hang on!~ I screamed as he skidded to a full stop then leapt straight upwards, clearing the trees with a single bound. 

"WHEEEE!!!" 

~You really are nuts,~ he laughed as he kept us floating in mid-air, a blue shield of psychic energy surrounding us as what I could only describe as a plaid cloud started raining dark orange paint. 

"I think we overdid it with that paint bomb...." I murmured as a neon green bird flew past us. 

~Duh.~ 

"That's _my_ line!" 

::Duh!:: 

I stared at a grinning Kalamadea for a moment before groaning. "Look what you did! You're corrupting my dragons!" 

~_Me?!_~ 

::Frickin' kewl!:: 

"Erm....nevermind." 

~Uh huh.~ 

"Get down here and fight like an Elf!!" I rolled my eyes then looked down at a glaring Telca, grinning as I made faces at her 

"Nyah-nyah! Hehe. Can't get me. Nyah-nyah n-nyah-nyah!" 

~Lashana, quit taunting the psychopath.~ 

_BAMF!_

"Gotcha!" 

I loosed a screech of surprise and tried to fight my free of the hands that had grabbed onto my shoulders. _Getoffgetoffgetoff!!!!_ A low dangerous growl caught my attention, and I gasped in surprise as Kalamadea stood on all fours on Mewtwo's shoulders and arched his back, neck lowered in a threatening posture. His wings spread to their full extension, small wing-claws drawing close to each other as he angled them forward, crackles of electricity gathering into a sphere between the two tips. _What in the worlds??_

"Whoa!" Nightcrawler - who had been hanging onto my back - cried as the small, yet rather powerful, blast of lightning slammed into his left shoulder, knocking him off of me. 

"Mewtwo!" I yelled, gathering a still hissing Kalamadea in my arms as Nightcrawler fell towards the ground, semi-conscious. 

~I'm on it! Hold on!~ He dove sharply, the Barrier fading from around us as he raced to catch the teenage mutant. I couldn't stand to watch, so I buried my face against his shoulders and merely clung to my trembling dragon. _Pleasepleaseplease...._

It wasn't until Mewtwo lightly landed that I rose my head, peering over his shoulder at the dazed Nightcrawler he had in his arms. _Oh thank you Lords....._I heaved a sigh of relief and lowered my forehead to the pokemon's shoulder, closing my eyes wearily. _Kalamadea?_

There was a flash of sullen greyish blue. ::Did bad?:: 

_No, dearheart..... Well, yes, a little. Are you alright?_ I felt him shiver and curl up tighter against me. 

::....sorry....:: The tone was so soft, so guilt-ridden, that I couldn't help but cuddle him closer, murmuring reassurance to him as he clung to me. 

"Sweet flamin' shit! What the hell happened?!" Well, there went the rule about no swearing around the hatchlings. 

~It wasn't his fault. Kalamadea thought Lashana and I were being threatened,~ Mewtwo said softly as he let Beast take the disoriented youth from him. ~We didn't even know he could do an attack like that.~ 

Telca's expression softened. "He okay?" 

"Just shaken up...." I muttered, looking at Telca as Kalamadea tried to burrow further into my arms. "He's sorry." 

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "You do realize that I don't usually let people off so easy after hurting one of my Guys, right?" She apparently didn't notice the angry glare Mewtwo was sending her as she continued. "I suppose I can make an exception... But you owe me a box of Ding-Dongs! I keep running out of the damned things...." 

I exchanged glances with Mewtwo. "Deal." _Quick 'Two! Teleport us out of here before she changes her mind!_ Blue light immediately surrounded us, and by the time my eyes refocused, we were in the Kitchen. _Phew..._

~That's it? After all that, just 'phew'?~ the pokemon asked, looking back at me in disbelief. 

"It's all I can manage at the moment," I said with a wince. "Can you help me down? I've got a cramp in my leg...." I felt his tail wrap around my waist, tightening gently as he lifted me off his back and set me on my feet. I of course, simply collapsed to the floor, partially because my leg wasn't being cooperative, and partly because Kalamadea was starting to freak me out. _Kalamadea? C'mon, hun, everything's okay....._

~Give him to me.~ Not waiting for an answer, Mewtwo knelt in front of me and gently took the hatchling into his arms, giving me the opportunity to grab the edge of the island counter and haul myself onto a stool. I watched him closely as he cradled the small form against his chest and came to the conclusion that I had never known that he had such a tender side to himself. 

~Young One.... It's alright. All is forgiven. I'm proud of you.~ I blinked at that, but didn't say anything since Kalamadea was slowly uncurling himself out of the tightly wound ball he had been in, his expressive eyes locked onto Mewtwo's equally expressive ones. ~You protected your mommy, right?~ 

I winced. ::Yes. But Blue Fuzzy was friend of mommy....:: _Blue Fuzzy? Oy....I gotta start teaching them to remember actual names..._

~Yes, he was. But sometimes mommy needs looking after.~ 

_Why you little.... _"Hey! I resent that!" 

::...mommy?:: Oh damn that big-eyed expression. 

"C'mere." I reached out and took him into my arms, tickling his light purple underbelly until flashes of cheerful greens and blues appeared in my minds eye. _I'm not angry, littling. _Littling? Where the hell had I gotten that? _I'm very proud of you. Thank you._

::Elfy!:: 

"Well....you sure recover quickly..." 

~We'd better remember to teach him to control that attack when he gets a little older,~ Mewtwo said as he slid onto a stool next to me and buried his face in his hands, sighing heavily. 

Kalamadea was wriggling to get free, and I let him, watching him fly out of the Kitchen before turning my attention to Mewtwo. "What's that for?" I asked as I got to my feet, wincing as feeling returned to my left leg with a vengeance that felt like I was being pricked by thousands of needles. I ignored it in favour of getting myself over to the coffee machine. 

~Do you realize that it took an insane Elf and triplet hatchlings to make me realize that....~ He stopped suddenly and retreated into himself. I actually winced when he mentally shut me out, the dampening fields he had placed in my mind vanishing and letting the headache return with a force that nearly sent me to my knees. Nearly. 

"New rule : no getting depressed or whatever without telling me what's wrong," I said as I poured coffee into his favourite mug, added two teaspoons of sugar, and went to sit across from him. I waved the mug close to him, forcing a grin when he rose his head to follow the movement of the mug with his eyes before reaching for it. I let him take it. "So? What's wrong?" 

~Nothing.~ 

Realizing that I was now sitting with a ball of purple tension, I firmly beat down the urge to smack him with an oven mitt and leaned forward, reaching out to scratch the spot behind his right ear/horn. The effect was instantaneous. He sighed deeply and sagged against the counter, closing his eyes as he relaxed, a low purr rumbling out of him while he leaned against my hand. 

I pulled away a few moments later, smiling at him warmly as I rose to get myself a cup of coffee, feeling him meekly re-establish the link and wipe away the pain of the headache. I didn't say anything, not wanting to push him into anything. 

He stared at me for a moment. ~You're not going to ask again?~ 

"Nope," I smiled before taking a drink of my coffee, looking at his surprised and curious expression over the rim of my mug. "I'm not gonna force you to tell me something that you don't wanna talk about." I arched an eyebrow at him and grinned. "And I have been trying to get the dragons to call me 'Lashana' for the past three weeks, must you keep referring to me as their 'mommy'?" 

I had lost him somewhere in the middle of the paragraph. ~Huh?~ 

"Take another drink of your coffee," I chuckled as I sat across from him again. "Recap. Uno : I am not going to force you to tell me something that you obviously don't feel comfortable talking about. Dos : Stop referring to me as the dragons 'mommy'? Comprende?" 

He blinked. 

"I'll take that as a 'yes'." I got up again and headed for the fridge, pausing when a loud wail sounded from the Main Hall. _Now what? Oh wait....the trap! _I poked my head out of the Kitchen and gaped for a moment before ducking back into the room and covering my mouth with both hands, trying to muffle my laughter. 

Apparently the sight of me laughing myself sick was enough to goad Mewtwo out of his current state. ~What's so funny?~ 

_Malcho....pompoms....glue.....THE SEQUINS!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! _I couldn't help it. I dropped my hands and howled with laughter, the yell of outrage that came from the Hall not helping me one bit as I sagged against the wall, gasping for breath in between uncontrollable chuckles. 

"_MUCHACHA!!_ This is _not_ funny!!" Malchogrowled as he stuck his head into the Kitchen. The sight of him set me off again, and I had to reach out to cling to the fridge to keep myself upright. He was _covered_ in multicoloured sequins and fluffy little white pompoms, top that look off with the silver sparkles and I wasn't going to stop laughing until I passed out from lack of air. 

Mewtwo wheezed, trying to keep from laughing. Unfortunately, between Malcho and my current condition, he didn't have a snowballs chance in hell. 

So now that 'Two and I were clinging to each other to stay upright while we laughed so hard that we cried, Malcho simply _glared_. I went into a fit of coughing, got some breath back, gasped out "...Sequins!!" and set Mewtwo off again. 

Malcho, however, wasn't one to let revenge slip through his feathers. While Mewtwo and I alternated between trying to breath and laughing, he reached out and casually shock both wings over us, showering us in sequins and sparkles. But Mewtwo and I were _way_ too far gone to let _that _stop us. 

We paused. We stared at one another. Then shouted ~"The sequins!"~ and started howling again. 

"Carumba. They've gone loco." 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

"I think I broke a rib," I grimaced half an hour later where I was lying on the couch in the Game Room, my gazed fixed on the ceiling. After we had practically passed out from lack of air, Malcho had shoved us in here to recover. Smart snake wanted to get us out of the way so we wouldn't tell anyone what had happened while he went to wash himself off in the pool. 

~My throat's on fire...~ Mewtwo groaned. I rolled my head to the side and looked at him where he was sprawled out in the Lazy-Boy chair, then snickered. 

"Sequins..." _Hehe._

~Stop that. You're going to start me laughing again,~ he grinned, tossing a low-level sphere of psychic energy my way. I caught it and cupped it in my hands, staring at it curiously for a moment. 

"You do realize that you say 'mewtwo' when you laugh out loud, right?" I asked with a wicked grin, arching an eyebrow as I looked at him again. 

He looked at me in horror. ~Tell me I didn't.~ 

"Meeeewww twwwoooo twwwooooo." I imitated his laugh, baring my fangs in an insane grin when he moaned and covered his face with his hands. "Oh chill. It's cute." 

~I am not 'cute'.~ 

"You've got a choice between cute, cuddly or adorable." 

Faced with that decision, he lowered his hands and sighed. ~....cute it is then. Oh my head hurts....~ 

I groaned at the reminder and casually tossed the sphere of energy back at him, lowering a hand to probe at my aching ribs. "I still say I broke something...." 

::Elfy!:: The call made me twist and pull myself up to that I could see over the arm of the couch, blinking as Kalamadea flew into the room....wearing what seemed to be...a miniature t-shirt?! 

I rose an arm and let him land, waiting until he had balanced himself before pulling him close to get a better look.... 

....only to break out into painful howls of laughter again seconds later. 

Mewtwo looked at me, picked Kalamadea up, frowning at the tiny dragon for a moment before growling. ~_TELCA!! This isn't funny!!!_~ For the hatchling was indeed wearing a tiny custom made t-shirt. On it was a picture of Mewtwo himself with the words 'my daddy loves me' written in bright purple letters. 

I meanwhile was busy alternating between laughing and crying in pain. I swore that I was going to rupture something, but at the moment I didn't care. "....my daddy loves me...." I wheezed and wiped tears from my eyes, managing to stop chuckling for a moment.... 

...at least until I looked at Mewtwo's expression. 

~This isn't funny,~ he grumbled as I erupted into uncontrollable laughter all over again. 

At least that's what I was doing until Akhor flew in wearing a t-shirt saying - 'I take after the runt.' 

"_TELCA!!!_" 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

While I was busy trying to catch a giggling Akhor to take that t-shirt off, Telca was reclining in her chair in front of her computer, a grin on her face. "Didn't think I was gonna let you off _that_ easy, didja?" she grinned as she listened to the yelling that was me. She chuckled to herself and leaned further back into the chair, a scream of surprise leaving her as the legs gave out, sending her crashing to the floor. 

"What the flamin' hell?! The leg's've been _chewed _through!!" 

::Hehehe!:: 

"What the? Hey! Get back here you green lizard!! _Lashana!!_ You owe me a new chair!!"   
  
  
  



	4. 04/10/02 Terrible Twos

_Disclaimer : We (Lashana and Telca) own only ourselves, Mischief and Korin. The dragons are based on statues from Windstone Editions, the names of Kalamadea and Akhor belong to Mercedes Lackey and Elizabeth Kerner respectively, and none of the Harem Guys belong to us. (That's kinda depressing....) Anywho, read and enjoy!_   
__   
  
04/10/02 Terrible Twos   
  


::Hehehe!:: 

_CRASH!_

"Korin! Get yer tail down here _this instant!!_" I screamed, wincing when my voice cracked in the middle of the sentence. _Oooh. My poor throat.... _"Korin, no! Not the DVD player! No-" 

_CRASH!!_

"You little bastard." At that exact moment, I had to give my Parents credit. I was amazed they hadn't nail me to a wall now that I knew how much trouble I must've caused them. The hatchlings had apparently hit the draconic age where they had more energy than they knew what to do with. What was worse was that, like most toddlers, they had figured out exactly how to use their bodies. Which meant that the little suckers could now out-maneuver me. _I love my dragons. I will not kill my dragons..._

_CRASH!!_

I lowered my gaze to the now useless 27" TV, blinking at the smoke coming out of it for a moment before looking at a grinning Korin. _It's not wise to piss off the person who feeds you._

He giggled. ::Mommy funny!:: 

_Ooo. I am so going to duct tape you to a wall when I catch you._ I launched myself at him, screaming in rage when he flew out of my reach, and promptly rammed my forehead into a wall. _That's it. I give up. _"MEWTWO!!!" 

~Ack!~ I rubbed at my head and looked over at the pokemon that teleported himself into the room, arching an eyebrow at the two wriggling dragons he was holding in his arms. I saw his eyes widen in shock as he looked around the ruined TV room. ~What happened?!~ 

::Hehehe!:: 

~Oh. Nevermind. Are you alright?~ He winced when I met his gaze. Apparently the look I had on my face mirrored exactly what I was feeling at the moment. Murderous would be putting it lightly. ~Er... why don't you go sit down for a while? I can watch them. ~ Smart Pokemon. Humor the borderline homicidal Elf. 

"Thanks," I rasped out, raising a hand to rub at my aching throat as I walked past him. A plaintive whimper caught my attention, and I warily looked at Akhor as he struggled to get out of Mewtwo's arms to get to me. "Alright. You, I'll look after. Your 'daddy' can take care of your two pain in the arse brothers." 

~Gee, thanks,~ Mewtwo grumbled under his breath as I took the white dragon from him. ~Leave me with the two psycho-hyper hatchlings.~ 

"Okay!" The glare he sent me told me that he didn't appreciate the cheerful tone I had used. Well TS for him. After a few hours of running around after Kalamadea and Korin, he'd understand where I was coming from. Until then... "I'll be in the Kitchen." 

I was amazed at how quickly my trio was growing. It had been just under a month ago when they had hatched, and as far as Mewtwo and I could tell, they were aging about half a year human-time a week. Which, of course, made me wonder what a dragon's life span was.... 

::Elfy?:: The soft voice pulled me out of my musings, making me look down at the dragon in my arms. 

_Yeah Akhor?_

::Want to play.:: I groaned. 

_Didn't Mewtwo play with you? Aren't you tired? Even a little bit? _It was a vain hope that made me ask that. While they seemed to have a never ending supply of energy, I had been running after them all day, I was ready to curl up and sleep for a week. Better yet, how exactly was I supposed to play a game with a creature that was so small I was constantly afraid of accidentally hurting it? 

::Daddy chased Kalamadea the longest,:: he told me, raising big golden eyes to meet my gaze. I really had to find a defense to that expression.... 

_Alright. Alright. Just let me get something to drink..._ I really _really_ had to find a defense to that expression.... He sent a happy rainbow of colours into my thoughts, and I groaned again. What had I gotten myself into? 

A wave of panic hit me seconds later, the familiar telepathic 'presences' telling me that it was Kalamadea and Korin that were in trouble. _Shit._ I relocated Akhor onto a nearby shelf and opened a portal, leaping through it and onto the back of the person that was threatening my dragons. 

"Yare yare, Lashana-chan! I never knew you could be this forward!" 

_EEEWWWWW!!!!_ "HENTAI!!!" I threw myself away from the fruitcake, grabbed the nearest thing that could be used as a weapon, and slammed it down over his head. 

::Mommy!!:: Blue and green forms slammed into my chest with enough force that it made me take a step back in surprise before I automatically rose my arms to hug the small dragons to myself. 

_Where's Mewtwo?_ I thought to the hatchlings in my arms, glaring at Xellos as he tried to pry himself out from under the coffee table I had bludgeoned him with. Getting nothing but another wave of fear, I threw caution to the winds and sent out a mental cry for help through all the psychic links I had, my eyes widening when Xellos tossed the table aside and leapt at me... 

And ten black psychic energy balls and a sphere of red destructive power sailed past me, sending Xellos flying through a wall. I coughed once the dust settled and looked over at the duo behind me. "You have excellent timing." 

"It's hard to ignore you when you scream like that," Blackwargreymon teased as he walked over to me and gave me a gentle hug, being careful since I was still holding the hatchlings. 

~Now do you understand why I told you to stay near me?~ Mewtwo said to the two hatchlings, obviously annoyed. The two dragons blinked at him meekly and tried to burrow deeper into my arms. 

"Oy... I think they're sorry... ACK! Kalamadea! Get out of my shirt!!" 

Blackwargreymon chuckled and wisely stepped away from me when I glared at him while trying to remove the hatchling from my bra. "Lucky little guy, isn't he?" I was so going to hurt him later. 

"Shut. Up." I pulled the dragons off of me, gave them a gentle boost into the air, and stomped out of the room. 

~You and your big mouth.~ 

"Oh shut up, will you? Lashana! Lashana, wait!" I glanced back over my shoulder and frowned at my Bonded as he ran after me. "It was just a joke." 

"Black. It's almost sunset, I am sore, I haven't slept well in four weeks, the hatchlings are driving me insane, I'm pretty sure I have the beginnings of a migraine going on, and I have this overwhelming urge to blow something up. My sense of humour is kinda nonexistent at the moment." 

He skidded to a stop and looked at me warily before reaching out and tucking an unruly lock of hair behind my pointed right ear. "I'm sorry." 

_Dammit. _The urge to smack him faded at those two simple words, and I mentally grimaced. I had wanted to be able to rant and rave for a bit, but that option had just died a quick and painless death. "S'okay," I sighed as I pulled away and headed for the Kitchen. "It's no fault of yours." _Ruined a perfectly good chance for me to rant..._

I instinctively ducked as two dragons zoomed past me, then sidestepped to let Mewtwo run by. I wasn't going to think much of it until I heard a loud cry of surprise from the Kitchen. A loud _female_ cry. _Oh lords.... they just pissed Telca off...._ The hatchlings seemed to excel at that. Just two days ago they had chewed up the mouse wire to her computer, and the day before that they had gotten into her stash of May West cakes.... 

By the time Black an I reached the Kitchen, World War Three had erupted. It took me two seconds to take in the entire scene : Kalamadea and Korin latched onto Telca's braided hair, Telca waving a cookie sheet around as she screamed and tried to get the dragons to let go, freshly baked cookies covering the floor, Akhor pigging out on said cookies, and a laughing Mewtwo. _I need a vacation._

"Get off!!" Telca snarled, finally managing to get her hands on the two dragons that had been hanging on her braid and forcibly yanking them off of her. I wasn't worried about her hurting them. I was more afraid of her hurting me. "Lashana! They ruined a perfectly good batch of chocolate chip cookies!" 

_Er...._ I stepped over a pile of said cookies as Kalamadea and Korin wriggled out of Telca's hold and flew over to land on the floor next to Akhor, joining him in pigging out. "They're going through an energy spurt." _Mewtwo, I know you can hear me, stop laughing. And make Black stop too. _"Since when do you bake?" 

"Since the mood struck me." I had the sudden vision of a little knome with a t-shirt saying 'baking mood' smacking Telca over the head with a mallet. Did I mention that I hadn't had much sleep lately? "Y'know, you should really look into getting them some Prozac." 

"I was thinking duct tape," I sighed as I looked down at the three chocolate smeared draconic grins being sent my way. I wasn't about to tell her what they did to the one of the TV rooms. "Is there any coffee left?" 

"Yes O Caffeine Freak," Telca chuckled as she pointed to the machine. I glared at her while I carefully picked my way through the cookie laden floor. As I busied myself with trying to find a clean mug, Telca snapped her fingers and magickally cleaned up the Kitchen. Gotta love magick. It makes manual labour a thing of the past. 

~Lashana? Um.... Where'd they go?~ 

There wasn't a doubt in my mind who 'they' were. I glanced at the floor where they had been and saw three trails of chocolate footprints leading to the Main Hall. "Um...." I finished pouring myself a cup of caffeine and followed the prints, dimly aware that Black, Telca and Mewtwo were right behind me as I walked out to the base of the stairs..... 

Just to throw myself aside as a white draconic form launched itself off the banister. "What the hell?!" 

Mewtwo rose a hand to cover his eyes and groaned as Kalamadea and Korin slid down the banister after their brother, spreading their wings at the last moment as their momentum down said banister propelled them into the air. ~Just five minutes of peace. Five minutes. How hard can that be?!~ 

"Do you really want to know?" Blackwargreymon murmured, getting nasty glares from Mewtwo and I as a response. 

Telca tapped my shoulder to get my attention and grinned. "I have an idea." 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

"You're sure they'll be okay?" I asked as I watched the trio test the limits of their ropes. No we hadn't tied them up. Well...maybe just a little. Telca's plan had been simple. Run a rope from the deck to the nearest tree, then harness the three dragons to it. Thus they could fly and run and all that hyper stuff, but they couldn't get very far. 

~They'll be fine. I'll keep telepathic watch on them,~ Mewtwo assured me as Black guided me into the Kitchen, refusing to let me dodge around him to see the dragons. 

"Come watch a movie with me," Black rumbled in my ear as he playfully scooped me into his arms. Oh yeah, biiig choice. Stay with pain-in-arse hyper hatchlings, or go relax with my Bonded. I threw my arms around his neck. 

"Ugh. You're going to give me cavities!" Telca called after us as he carried me to the Living room. 

Five minutes later found me comfortably nestled in my Bonded's arms as we watched the opening titles to Jurassic Park III. Naturally, the moment I found myself completely relaxed.... 

~Lashana!~ It was obvious that the pokemon was telepathing on what I call a 'wide-band frequency', for Blackwargreymon sighed heavily and met my exasperated gaze. 

"Never a dull moment, hmm?" 

I groaned and hauled myself to my feet, dragging my weary carcass out of the room, down the hallway, through the kitchen, and out onto the deck. "Now what?" Not getting a response from the seemingly catatonic pokemon, I sighed and followed his gaze out onto the back lawn, nearly screaming in shock. There, dangling in a knarled mess, were my three dragons. I didn't know how they had managed to tangle themselves up in the ropes like that, and I was sure that I didn't want to know. What I did know, was that they were currently dangling two feet off the ground and that Telca's cat Mischief was batting at them with a paw. _I need a vacation..._

Telca meanwhile was busy taking pictures. "I don't know how they managed to get tangled up like that, but it's funny as all hell!" 

"We were only gone for five minutes!" I wailed in despair before starting to bang my head against the deck's railing. "How can something so small get into so much trouble in just five minutes?!? _How?!_" 

::Mommy! Daddy!:: 

Mewtwo echoed my earlier groan and leapt off the deck, flying over to the tangled mess of dragons. ~I don't believe this. Lashana? We're going to have to cut them loose.~ 

I grumbled. Footsteps behind me made me turn to look at a curious Kang. I ignored his questioning glance in lieu of stealing the belt knife he was wearing and going out to help Mewtwo. "I'm going to bed after this," I told the pokemon as I reached up and sliced the guide rope in half, looking over at the three tangled pile of dragons that he was now cradling in his arms. "My Gods...how the hell are we going to get them free of all those knots?!" 

~First things first.~ He wrapped his tail around my waist and teleported the two of us into the Kitchen, releasing me seconds later as he went to sit at the island counter. ~Kalamadea, hold still. Yes I know Akhor's wing is in your face. No Korin, you can't bite Kalamadea. Korin, I said no.~ 

"What happened to them?" Kang asked after he had snuck up behind me and snatched his belt knife back. 

I bit back many retorts that came to mind. "Ask Telca." I headed over to sit across from Mewtwo and reached out to help him free the first of the trio. _'Two? Have I mentioned that I need a vacation?_

~Many times,~ he rumbled, the pitch of his mental voice telling me that he was keeping this conversation private. ~Have I mentioned that I need one too?~ 

_Almost as much as I have._ I hooked a fingernail under a piece of rope and carefully untangled Akhor's right foreleg, sighing when the hatchling grabbed onto my finger and refused to let go. I really don't know what I looked like right then, but apparently I scared Mewtwo. 

~Why don't you go take it easy for a bit?~ he said as I pried Akhor off of my finger, wincing when his talons sliced into my skin. ~I can handle this. Go relax.~ 

_Relax? I don't know the meaning of the word anymore._ Judging by the sympathetic look he sent me neither did he. _You don't mind?_

~Would I have offered if I did?~ 

_Yes._

He smirked. ~Go on. It's okay.~ 

_Kewl. Thanks._ I glanced over at Black, Telca and Kang where they were talking about the hatchlings and decided that I didn't want to be sociable at the moment. So I opened a portal and headed for one of the TV rooms in my Wing of the Palace. _Ooo. Time alone. I haven't had that in ages....crap._ I stared at Wolverine and Beast where they were sitting on the couch and frowned. "Why aren't you Guys in Telca's Wing of the Palace?" 

"Cuz ya got better movies." I glared at Wolverine and slammed the door behind me. Exploration of the other three TV rooms left me in a tense and rather annoyed state. All were being used, and since I didn't feel well enough to fight someone for a room, I was stuck with the vain hope that the last room was empty.... 

It wasn't. 

"Hola mi amiga," Malcho greeted, his smile fading from his lips when he saw me. "Carumba. What's the matter?" 

"Nuthin'," I muttered as I turned to leave, blinking when a plumed tail wrapped around my waist and yanked me back into the room. "Malcho, please. I'm not in the mood to play any games." _I swear, if he tries to get me to play another round of Nascar Racing I'm gonna-_ My train of thought derailed itself in pure shock when he set me down amongst his coiled body, his tail now lying over my legs to keep me in place. 

"You need to relax, si?" I blinked at him for a moment before nodding. "Then do so, amiga. Rest a bit, you look exhausted." When I opened my mouth to protest, he grinned and rested a wing over me. "No one will bother you. Sueno." 

Sueno. Sleep. Sleep sounded very good at the moment. And I had a willing bodyguard to keep people away from me for a while. Was I going to pass up a chance like this? No way in hell. I sighed in relief and curled up in his embrace as he slid his wings around me, enveloping me in warm scaly feathers. I surrendered my losing battle with consciousness seconds later. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

I have no real idea how long I slept. Only that it was pitch black when the noises woke me. I struggled to lift Malcho's wing off of me so that I could see the VCR clock, but gave up almost as soon as I had begun. Mainly because the sounds of destruction had stopped. That meant that I could go back to sleep. I snuggled back down into the warmth of Malcho's wings and closed my eyes as he sighed in his sleep and pulled me a little closer. 

Naturally I was only moments away from falling asleep again when a loud crash echoed through the silent Palace. This time it woke Malcho too. 

"Que? Amiga?" He rattled off something that I didn't understand. It figured that being half-asleep meant that he wasn't coherent enough to speak English. 

"Dunno. Don't care. Not moving." Simple and to the point. I wondered if he was awake enough to _understand_ English. 

"Que?" Apparently not. Okay....time to see if I remembered what little Spanish I knew. 

"Sueno, Malcho." Okay...so maybe my grasp of Spanish was limited to a piddling six words that couldn't be used in the same sentence. So what? It was a miracle that I was awake enough to speak! Granted, that 'being awake' part wasn't all that grand. It got worse when another crash and a thud came from down the hallway. _Do I care enough to get up? ....oh I suppose so._

After fighting my way free of Malcho's wings, tripping over his tail and slamming face first onto the floor, I knew that no matter what was going on outside the room, I wasn't going to like it. It turned out that I was right, for the moment that I opened the door, I was assaulted by what I could only perceive as medusa on a bad hair day...er...night. 

"Give them Gravol! Or, Valium! Prozac! Lithium! You have to give them _something!!_ I. Need. To. Sleep!!" I blinked a few more times before I recognized Telca. She must have been tossing and turning all night for her hair to look _that_ bad. 

"I am not giving them Lithium!" I growled as I pulled myself out of her hold, frowning when I saw that half of the collar of my t-shirt was still in her hands. 

"It doesn't have to be a lot. Just a tiny bit. Just enough to knock them out!" She sounded like she had gone insane. If she started talking any faster, or any more high-pitched, I was going to ship her off to the nearest auction block. A ragged 'meow' drew my attention to the frazzled cat that staggered over to us. I thought she looked drunk. 

As Malcho poked his head out of the TV room to see what was going on, I backed away from Telca and headed for the source of the noises. Actually, calling them 'noises' was being rather polite. In actuality it sounded like World War Three : The Revised Edition. I think I heard someone crying. 

_Alright. The Elf has had it._ I stomped over to the room where all the ruckus was coming from, took a breath, and kicked the door open. "THAT. IS. ENOUGH!!!" 

Crickets chirped. 

I glared over at the three hatchlings that were in the process of tearing a couch apart, glanced at a greatly relieved Mewtwo, then returned my gaze to the three stunned dragons. "I. Have. Had. Enough! There will be no more breaking of technology, no more stealing of my chocolate, no more launching lightning blasts at Telca's cat, no more fighting in the middle of the night, and no more chewing of electrical wires! You will not destroy the computers, the books, the furniture, the plants or the wallpaper, and you will _not _wake us up at UnGodly hours of the night!! Is that understood?!" 

Three heads nodded as one. 

"Good! Now. Go. To. Sleep!" That said, I spun around and stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind me only to discover that my little rant had drawn quite an audience. In fact, the entire Harem was gathered in the hallway. 

They practically climbed over each other to get out of my way. Good. I was tired, my head hurt and my throat was killing me. Of course, as soon as my rage left me, I wanted some company. Granted after my recent display, I knew that was only going to happen when and if hell froze over.... 

~Are you alright?~ 

Oooh look. The devil was ice-skating. "Not really." 

A tail curled around my waist, pulling me into a warm embrace that somehow ended up with me being hauled off my feet and carried into a room. Not that I minded. I was already asleep. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

I woke up to the sensation of being stared at. It's a very annoying sensation. It brings about the urge to smack someone. But since my arms were currently pinned by some blankets and Mewtwo's arms, I settled for opening an eye and peering through my lashes at the three blurry shapes that were perched on the side of the hammock I was in. 

::Mommy?:: 

A wave of apology and warmth flooded my thoughts, and I managed a sleepy smile as I freed an arm and gathered the hatchlings close to me. _You're forgiven._

I 'felt' Kalamadea grin. ::Does that mean you'll feed us?:: 

I groaned, thinking that I had to leave the warm comfortable hammock. Then a thought hit me. _It's your daddy's turn. Wake him up._

::Okay!:: The three dragons climbed over me and literally glomped Mewtwo's face. ::Daddy! Daddy, wake up!! Hungry!:: 

~Please god no......~ 

Hehe.   
  
  
  
  



	5. 04/15/02 Warlock Troubles

_Insert usual disclaimer here. If you don't know what that is, go check one of the earlier chapters ^_~_

04/15/02 Warlock Troubles   
  
  


It was Monday. The most dreaded day of the week. Why, you ask? Because in this dimension nothing _ever_ went well on a Monday. Which meant that I had a good reason to pull the blankets over my head and ignore the outside world altogether. I was really good at that. It was just so comfortable. Lying there in a warm cocoon of blankets and pillows, ignoring all outside annoyances.... 

A crack of light appeared between my arm and the blanket, and I frowned as a small blue form wriggled through and came to snuggle up against my neck. This I didn't mind. After all, this was a new heat source. Granted it didn't rival the furry one pressed up against my back, but I didn't much care. 

~Lashana?~ 

I frowned and pulled the blankets closer, refusing to answer. I was too close to that dangerous line between sleep and consciousness for my liking. I wanted to go back to sleep. It was a Monday. I'd be safer if I was asleep. 

~Lashana. I know you're awake.~ I may have been awake, but I wasn't stupid enough to answer. Two weights landed on my shoulders and proceeded to bury themselves in my hair, one of them curling up against the nape of my neck, the other fighting it's way lower until it was nestled in the crook of my right arm. There was the sound of a self-inflicted smack. ~Oh for the love of....~ 

I grinned and wriggled myself deeper into the nest of blankets. No way was I getting up. I was comfortable, I had little heat sources to keep me warm..... 

~Get up!~ 

And a pain-in-the-arse pokemon that had just taken said heat sources away and was now trying to pull the blankets away. Determined not to have my comfort taken away, I grabbed as much of the blankets as I could, dug my fingernails into them, and curled myself around them. There. I wasn't moving. Of course, I had forgotten about what a bastard Mewtwo could be. 

~Since you seem to need a little bit of help getting out of bed, I'll be glad to assist.~ He sounded waaay to smug. What was he.... 

And the world lurched beneath me. 

"AHH!!" _THUD!!_ "Owww....." The bastard had flipped the hammock. Oooh, I was so going to hurt him.... 

~Good morning.~ I growled and opened my eyes, staring at the pair of two-toed feet that came into view before I found the strength to raise my head to glare up into Mewtwo's amused gaze. ~Oh stop glaring. I brought you some coffee.~ 

_That hurt, y'know._

~It was either that or lock Xellos in the room with you.~ I shuddered. 

_It still hurt._ I get to my feet and swayed for a moment before he moved to let me lean against his side. I was still half-asleep. _Why'd you wake me? And where's that coffee?_

~Here,~ he chuckled, hanging me the mug of precious caffeine. ~And I woke you because it's seven in the morning and the dragons are hungry.~ 

I groaned. Why, oh why, couldn't someone else feed them? I knew the answer to that : because anyone else would get attacked. Even Mewtwo. I looked over at the three hatchlings in his arms and belatedly noted that they seemed to have grown a bit more. They were gaining weight, their wings subtly changing shape, their snouts becoming more defined....their faces becoming more expressive. _Stop looking at me like that._ I had to find a defense to that big-eyes look. 

I sighed and grabbed my spare housecoat, pulling it on while still keeping possessive hold on my coffee. "Alright. Alright. I'm awake." _More than I want to be anyway. Big psycho pokemon needs to learn how to leave the Elf alone when she's sleeping._

~The big psycho pokemon fears you not.~ Crap. I had forgotten that he was in my head. 

I sent a glare his way for good measure and staggered out of the room, sighing when three familiar weight attached themselves to my shoulders and sleeves. 

::Morning Mommy!:: Their vocabulary was growing greater by the day, so was their ability to string sentences together. Now if only they'd learn not to all speak in my head in stereo first thing in the morning.... ::You're going to feed us...right?:: 

_Yes. Yes I'll feed you. Just let me get to the Kitchen without getting myself killed first._ My main concern was the way Zelgadis was eyeing my mug of coffee. He apparently didn't realize that I could see him crouching down behind that plant. _Oy... see that littlings? That's called an idiot._

::I thought it was Zelgadis.:: I looked at Kalamadea and smirked. 

_One and the same._

~Are you corrupting the hatchlings?~ Mewtwo asked as he teleported himself beside me. 

_I'm just showing them what an idiot looks like. _I grinned and glanced towards the large plant, seeing Mewtwo follow my gaze and sigh in exasperation.   


~Good point. C'mon.~ He put an arm around me and teleported us to the Kitchen, grinning at the wail of loss from upstairs once we rematerialized next to the fridge. ~He has to switch to decaf.~ 

"We tried that once, remember?" I asked as I went to get the three cans of food from the cupboard. "We switched it on him without him knowing and he had a nervous breakdown and somehow developed a German accent." 

~Riiight. I had forgotten about that,~ he grinned, leaning against the counter as he watched me open the cans. ~I still can't figure out why you're the only one who can feed them without being attacked.~ 

"Does it matter that much? Korin, don't bite the can opener, you'll hurt yourself." I dumped the food into three bowls and set them apart on the counter. "Go." Now that I was free of the three hangers-on, I could feed myself. "Did you eat yet, 'Two?" 

~No. I haven't been up much longer than you have.~ I bet _he_ didn't get thrown out of the hammock. Hmpft. He watched me as I headed for the fridge, then glanced over his shoulder when a low warbling caught his attention. 

It caught mine too. "Phone!" I ran past him and lunged, grabbing the receiver and bringing it up to my ear. "Harem Dimension. What'd'ya want?" 

"Is this ....erm....Lashana Inferno?" 

I arched an eyebrow curiously. "Maybe." Who the hell knew my last name? Only the Guys, Telca and my Parents knew it. "Why?" 

"I believe you have something that belongs to me." Ooo. That voice did not sound friendly. 

"Don't think so. I gave up shoplifting five months ago." I met Mewtwo's curious gaze and frowned. _This guy's freaky, 'Two._ It helped calm me a little that he came over and lay a hand on my arm. I returned the favor by tilting the receiver so he could listen in. 

"Oh, but you weren't the one who stole it. What I'm speaking of was taken from me and sold in a black market. I was told that it was purchased as a gift for you." 

I felt all the colour drain from my face. _The egg..._ "What's your point?" My 'you're in danger' radar was going nuts just talking to this guy. Mewtwo didn't seem too calm either. 

"I want it returned." 

_No way!_ "Sorry, dude. I don't know who the flamin' hell you are, or what you're talking about, but I ain't giving you _anything_." I didn't hear what he said next because I had already hung up. I looked towards the eating dragons, and once I was certain that they were alright, I turned my gaze on Mewtwo. "Do me a favor and go wake up everyone who was there when y'all bought the egg. Then I want you to tell me _everything_ about that market and the guy you bought it from." 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

It took half an hour for Mewtwo to gather everyone who had been involved. Which was okay with me, because it took two more cups of coffee for me to fully wake up. 

"Why'd you wake me? What's goin' on?" Kang whined as he was shoved into the room by Malcho. "Dammit quit pushin' me! Ooh, where's the coffee?" I snickered and held a mug out to him, expertly ducking out of the way of Malcho's wing as I did so. 

"Lashana-dono? What's happened?" Kenshin seemed to be the only one that was coherent at the moment, so I gave him the bare details. Of course, the others excel at evesdropping.... 

"What do you mean, he wanted the egg back?" Zelgadis frowned, a mug of coffee cradled in his hands as he leaned back against the main counter. I shrugged and slid onto a stool at the island counter, sighing when the dragons flew over and landed on my shoulders. 

"Exactly what I said. He was asking questions about the egg. Said that someone had stolen it from him and sold it on the black market and that he had tracked it down to me." I looked down into my own cup of coffee, staring at my reflection in the dark liquid. "Something about him freaked me out.... there was something in his voice...." 

~I've heard it before.~ I blinked and rose my head to look at Mewtwo, frowning at the distant look in his eyes. ~His tone of voice....~ he paused and shook himself before continuing. ~He doesn't care about the hatchlings. He just wants to use them for something.~ 

I stared at him a moment longer before nodding. "I got that too. The question is, how the hell did he find me? Did any of you mention my full name at that market?" 

"No. Just that we were looking for a gift for a friend," Kang said as he sat across from me, a smile spreading over his lips as Korin flew over and perched on his shoulder. 

"All I know is that the merchant seemed very relieved when we chose to buy that egg. Actually...it did seem rather odd." I glanced at Kenshin, recognizing the calculating look in his eyes. Gone was the happy, laundry-doing, 'I'm going to bake you a cake' man. This replacement was ready to leap into a fight to defend anyone in trouble. It boosted my spirits a little. 

"We must also consider the fact that if that gringo tracked down our phone number....he may well be able to show up on our doorstep." Kalamadea moved closer to me at those words, and I automatically rose a hand to stroke his throat, calming him as I looked up at Malcho, who sighed. "I know I'm playing the part of the 'devil's advocate' amiga. But..." 

"S'okay. I know. We gotta consider all possibilities." I stared down into my coffee again, trying not to let my worry resonate through the links I had with the dragons. _If no one mentioned my name...then how did psycho stalker know it? Not telepathy, Mewtwo would have sensed it. And I know I've never talked to anyone who sounded like that... That leaves Magick...._

"Lashana-" Kang cut himself off with a gasp of surprise as I leapt to my feet and rose my hands into the air, calling power to myself as I closed my eyes and started rushing through an incantation. 

"What's she doing?" Kenshin frowned. 

Zelgadis slowly lowered his mug to the counter. "It's a spell to prevent anyone from magickally spying on us." 

Kang blinked and looked at the chimera. "That means.... _shit!_" I was dimly aware of Zelgadis adding his magick to mine as Kang drew a glyph in the air, a low growl escaping him when it glowed bright red. "She's right. Goddammit, someone's watching our every move!" 

"Not for long!" I announced as I finished my spell and released it, a sphere of golden energy leaving my fingertips and shooting upwards, passing through the Palace floors before reaching open outside air. I didn't need to see it to know that it was currently spreading out, forming a bubble that encompassed the entire building and it's surrounding grounds. "There. Done." 

I saw Kang summon the glyph again. "We're okay," he nodded, banishing the glowing blue symbol with a sweep of his hand. 

_Come here littlings._ I rose my arms and caught the three dragons that flew to me, hugging them to reassure myself that they were alright. 

::Danger?:: I looked into Kalamadea's eyes and nodded. 

_Someone's after you three. For the next few days, I think you should stay with either Mewtwo or myself, understand?_ I didn't think that hiding the truth from them would be a good idea. I wanted them to know what was going on, and I wanted them to stay safe. 

::It's the Warlock...isn't it?:: 

"Warlock?" I repeated, looking at Akhor curiously, ignoring the looks I was getting from the other Guys as I did so. "What Warlock?" 

::Bad man. Bad aura. Mean. Dangerous. Cold.:: Korin shivered and clung tighter to my shirt. 

"Bad aura?" I frowned and glanced at Zelgadis. "Mewtwo told me that the hatchlings 'imprinted' on whomever touched the egg. You're the Astral Plane expert. Is it possible that they meld with the person's aura?" 

He looked thoughtful for a moment, taking a sip of his coffee before answering. "Yeah. Yeah it could. It would certainly explain how they'd attune to someone without actually seeing them. That's probably why they're telepathically linked to you and Mewtwo. That imprinting bit when they hatched just sealed the deal. They knew that the ones they were linked with would be there the moment they broke free of that shell." 

"Then whoever that guy is, he had the egg for a while," Kenshin murmured. "They don't seem to have fond memories of him." 

~They don't.~ Mewtwo said. ~They're terrified.~ 

"Then we can only assume that it was the same gringo that was spying on us," Malcho hissed, tail lashing slightly. 

I closed my eyes again and reached for the Bond I had with Blackwargreymon, forcing him to wake up. {I know you're tired. But I need you to wake the others. We've got a big problem.} 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

"Alright. Who'd you piss off this time?" 

I blinked and looked towards the doorway, staring at the woman that was cradling a yawning cat in her arms. "Mornin' Telca. And I didn't. Someone's after the dragons." 

That got her attention. "What? Why?" 

"Don't know," Malcho sighed. "But whomever it is, they had been magickally watching us. And they've tracked our phone number down." 

She growled. Never let it be known, but Telca had a soft spot for anything cute. That even included my dragons...well....as long as they didn't attack her cat. "Tell me everything." 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

By the time everyone had gathered in the Kitchen, Malcho was on his third retelling of the situation. Everyone had the same basic reaction : 'Who is this guy?', and 'Can we hurt him?'. I had headed out onto the deck halfway through the first explanation for a bit of time to think and talk to the dragons. _You said he was a Warlock?_

::Yes. He felt like magick. Like you do.:: Kalamadea told me where he was sitting on the railing in front of me. Akhor and Korin were on either side of him, their gazes locked on me. ::He was dark. Not golden, like you mommy, but dark red.:: 

_Dark red..._ I frowned and rose my gaze to the blue sky, staring out at the horizon for a moment. _Do you know why he's after you?_

::We were supposed to be used for.....:: Korin turned and looked at Kalamadea. ::What is word?:: 

::Experiments.:: 

I felt my aura flare slightly as I struggled to keep control over my temper. Some bastard wanted to use these little sweethearts for _experiments_?! Over my dead body! _He won't get you. I swear it. He'll have to kill me first._ I gathered the trio into my arms and hugged them protectively as I stalked back into the Kitchen. 

"Experiments!" I snarled, startling everyone present. I needed to vent, and I needed to vent _now._ "That bastard Warlock wanted to use them in experiments!!" I wanted to add a few more descriptive terms, but Mewtwo cut me off. 

~He _what!?_~ I was jolted out of my own anger by the sight of him gathering power to himself, a blue aura appearing around him as a low wild growl rumbled out of him. 

_Uh oh._ I yelped as Kalamadea wriggled out of my hold and tried to catch him again, watching in worry as he landed on Mewtwo's shoulder and proceeded to nuzzle at the pokemon's cheek. 

::Daddy?:: It was simply amazing how much control Kalamadea had over him. I gaped along with everyone else as Mewtwo reached up relocate the dragon to his arms, hugging him tenderly as he calmed down. 

"Now that _that_ crisis has been averted..." I looked over at Telca as she gazed over at me. "What're the chances that the Warlock will come after them?" 

"Pretty damned high." 

She grinned. "Kewl. I'll go get the automated defense system online. C'mon Beast! We've got work to do!" 

I blinked. Had I missed something? Blackwargreymon obviously noticed my dumbfounded look, for he came over and rested a hand on my left shoulder. "They've grown on us." 

I grinned, unable to resist. "Lots of things grow on you. You can solve that with an invention called 'soap'." Luckily, months of experience made it very easy to dodge the two coffee cups and the basket of stale muffins that were thrown my way. 

::Hehehe! Good one!:: 

~Korin. Don't encourage your mother.~ Well, at least he was feeling better.... 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

"And we are up and running!" 

I followed the voice into one of the rooms in Telca's wing of the Palace and peeked inside. It had been only an hour ago when Telca had left the meeting, and in that time, the Guys had managed to turn the Palace into a fortress. Not that it was difficult to do.... I had taken the time to calm the three dragons down and get changed into my usual outfit of black boots, blue jeans and a light blue tank top. I was already regretting not wearing something with sleeves as Akhor slipped, his talons leaving scratches all over my right shoulder. 

"Hey Elfy! We're good to go!" 

I grinned and walked into the room, noting the numerous computer screens that surrounded the main console. "Wow. Kewl. I bet you get wicked internet surfing speed with this thing." 

"The best," Telca winked. 

"We have every inch of the Palace grounds under surveillance," Beast told me as Akhor flew over to a screen and perched on top of it, hanging off the edge to peer at the image of the front doors. 

"Kewl." I was almost starting to relax. I had over a dozen Harem Guys watching out for my dragons, a big psycho pokemon that wasn't leaving the other two hatchlings out of his sight, and a state of the art system that.... 

_ZZZZAAAPP!!! CRASH!!_

....was vulnerable to lightning blasts. _Goddammit._

Telca, as always, knew just what to say. "Son of a fuckin' bitch!" 

::_MOMMY!!_:: I jumped at the scream in my mind and franticly shoved Akhor into Telca's hands. 

"Watch him!" I yelled as I opened a portal and leapt out onto the front yard. "Kalamadea! Kalamadea where are you?!" The flash of terrified reds and yellows that accompanied the wordless cry of fright that echoed through my thoughts made me turn my gaze towards the driveway, my eyes narrowing when I saw a dark robed male holding onto a wriggling Kalamadea. _You son of a bitch...._

I paused for a split second to send a cry for help to Mewtwo and Blackwargreymon before I ran forward. The person's back was to me, and I took full advantage of it as I tackled him, landing on top of him and screaming in rage as I slammed his face into the cement. "Kalamadea! _Go!!_" I was forced to roll away when a lightning blast skimmed my bare arm, and I frowned when Kalamadea chose to instead latch onto me instead of heading inside. _Dammit littling, this isn't the time to be clingy..._

"That dragon is mine." I growled at the voice. It was the same as the one on the phone. 

"He doesn't seem to like you all that much, does he? Then again, with that fashion statement of yours, I don't blame him one bit. Is that a bed sheet?" 

I swear he twitched. "You must be Lashana." 

"Bingo. I'm amazed! Your IQ is greater than your shoe size!" Okay, so I get a little nasty when I'm pissed. Sue me. "Why don't you go back to whatever hole you happened to crawl out of and leave us the hell alone before I show you why 'Inferno' is my last name?" 

"You? You think I'm afraid of you? Stupid wench. You can't possibly comprehend my power." 

"Ego-tripper," I grumbled. Wench? Who the hell calls people 'wench' anymore?! 

"_TERRA DESTROYER!!_" Well, Blacky always was good at making an entrance. I twisted to shield the hatchling in my arms from the backlash of debris and looked over into the cloud of dust, staring at a flicker of movement in shock. That cost me big time. 

A spell slammed into me seconds later, knocking me off my feet and sending me flying backwards until I hit the front stairs of the Palace. _Oww...._ I groaned and looked down at Kalamadea, sighing in relief when I saw that he was alright. I however, was certain that my ribs weren't supposed to be hurting like that. The shadow that fell over me made me look up into cold dark eyes, and I shuddered involuntarily as I tightened my hold on my dragon. 

~Get away from them!~ I yelped as the ground lurched beneath us, forcing the Warlock to back away as a blue shield rose around us. The pokemon that landed next to me was pissed to say the least. I don't think I had ever seen Mewtwo that angry before. ~Are you alright?~ 

"Elfy!" I blinked as Telca and Beast ran over to us, meeting her gaze for a moment before I hauled myself to my feet and handed Kalamadea to the large blue furred mutant. 

"Keep an eye on him. Okay?" I asked softly, smiling when he nodded. "Thanks. I owe you." My dragon now safe, I turned my gaze to the Warlock that was standing in front of us. I knew that Blackwargreymon was hovering somewhere above me, and that Mewtwo was primed to attack at a moments notice. But this was personal. This needed a woman's touch. "Telca?" 

"Yeah?" 

I grinned, baring my fangs. "Let's get him." 

She blinked at me for a moment before an answering grin spread over her lips. "Yes. Let's." She pushed the sleeves of her shirt up to her elbows and rose her arms, an aura of magick swirling around her as he eyes faded from dark purple to a bright amber. "Purple, run interference. Blacky, distract 'em. Beast, get inside. Elfy?" 

"Go!" A fireball left my right hand as I ran forward, matching Telca's pace perfectly as Blackwargreymon launched another full-power attack on the intruder. The dust that flew into the air would have been a major problem for anyone but the next in line. 

Mewtwo's eyes glowed a bright blue as ten black energy spheres materialized around him, floating there for a moment before advancing on the Warlock at a speed that made my eyes hurt. As soon as they had detonated, Telca and I took our turns. 

"_DYNAST BRASS!_" Red lightning struck five points around Telca, forming a pentagram of power that flickered there for an instant before she pointed her right hand at the Warlock. The spell rushed forward then, trapping the male in the center of the pentagram as the lightning converged throughout the star, smashing his magickal shields in one fell swoop. 

I grinned as I saw the Warlock drop to his knees, clutching at his chest in pain. Unfortunately I didn't have much sympathy for him at the moment. He had threatened my dragons. No one threatened my dragons. "_Darkness beyond twilight! Crimson beyond blood that flows, buried in the flow of time! In thy great name I pledge myself to darkness! Let all the fools that stand before me be destroyed by the power you and I possess!_" My aura was swirling around me wildly, echoing the power that was now residing within me. I opened my eyes and glared at the Warlock, a small part of me smirking when I saw fear in his eyes. _No one threatens my friends or my family!_ I bared my fangs and threw my hands forward, taking aim. "_DRAGON SLAVE!!_" 

It was five minutes before the dust and debris settled, and five minutes more before Telca and I managed to put out all the little fires that had spread from the main explosion. 

~Feel better?~ Mewtwo asked as I walked back over to him. 

"Much," I grinned. 

Telca growled and nudged the unconscious and rather crispy Warlock with her booted foot. "What do we do with him?" 

Blackwargreymon and I exchanged evil glances before grinning. "HEY XELLOS!!" 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

"No! No please! _Please!_ I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I won't ever trouble you again! I promise!Justpleasedon'tmakemegobackinthere!!" The last part was a franticly panicked garble. 

I chuckled evilly and casually shoved the Warlock back into Xellos' room, making sure to barricade the door with a large bookshelf before weaving a spell that would muffle the screams. _Wouldn't want to freak the Guys out too much...._ A snicker drew my gaze to the three dragons that were perched on the light fixture above me, and I returned their grins with one of my own. _Ain't revenge grand?_   
  



	6. Message from the Author ^_^

**Message from the Author**   


We are unable to provide Chapter 6 at this time as it has been commandeered by General Stuck and is imprisoned somewhere in his fortress Writers Block. 

We now return you to your regular scheduled fanfic.   


^_^; 

  
  



	7. 05/28/02 Finding the Dragons

_As usual, we own only ourselves, our insanity, our ideas, the dragons and Telca's cat. ^_^_

_Note: This is like a little continuation of the Final Battle & Finding the Harem ficcies. So you might wanna go read those to understand what's going on ^_^_   


05/28/02 Finding the Dragons   
  
  


_BBBBBBBRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_

_WHAM!! WHAM!! WHAM!!!_

"Stupid alarm clock....." I growled as I let the hardcover book fall from my hand. Why, oh why had I set the alarm? I had only been asleep for a few hours, it was only 7am and I was simply too comfortable to want to move. The body next to mine shifted to curl itself more tightly against my back, and I sighed as I felt Blackwargreymon brush his cheek against mine, a low sleepy rumble escaping him. 

"Wha tim's'it?" 

"Seven," I mumbled. The two of us had only gotten to bed at 4. Between the reunion party, the two Goddesses that thought we were all grand entertainment, Telca trying to get me to order Xellos to glomp Barney and the little emotional breakdown we had had, we had pretty much pulled an all nighter. "Black?" 

"Mrhpt?" 

I couldn't help it. I giggled. "What was that in English?" 

There was a distinct rumble of a deep chuckle. "What is it?" 

"Why'd I set the..." I paused and yawned. "...alarm?" 

He sighed contentedly, obviously planning on going back to sleep once I had shut up. "You and the others were going to go look for the dragons." 

_My littlings!!_ Memory fully restored, I fought my way free of the blankets and the Digimon's arms, cursing at the sudden cold as I grabbed some clothes and headed into the bathroom, not bothering to close the door since he probably wasn't going to get up anyway. "Are you awake?" 

"....no." 

I rolled my eyes and kicked my pyjama bottoms, aka boxers, out of the bathroom, then hopped into my jeans and turned to stare at my reflection in the huge mirror. _I look like shit..._ The Elf that was staring back at me looked ragged and emotionally drained, my eyes were still slightly red from all the emotional crying I had done the night before. It didn't help to see the dark bags under my eyes either. I sighed and rose my hands to run my fingers through my hair, freezing when I saw dark markings on my arms. I stared at my reflection a moment longer before glancing down, gazing at the strange black runes that lined the backs of my forearms where the spines had emerged from during one of my Avatar transformations. 

Glancing out the doorway to make sure that Black wasn't up, I sighed, closed my eyes and called on the Chaos, a part of me needing to see what I looked like when I transformed. Taking a breath to steel myself, I opened my eyes and stared at a total stranger. 

"Dear Gods...." I whispered as I studied the woman that was staring back at me. This wasn't some half-Elven sorceress... this was a being that simply couldn't be described. Her hair was the purest gold with only the very tips of the long locks looking as if they had been dipped in black ink, pointed ears more defined, small fangs lenghtened. The eyes that locked onto mine were shining gold with black eliptical pupils, and I was sure that if I stared into them for too long that I would lose myself in them. Golden light swirled in reaction as she rose her arms, the long black spines that had emerged from her arms curving backwards towards her elbows, looking very sharp and very deadly. 

I simply couldn't believe that I was looking at myself. 

I was still staring at myself in shock when Blackwargreymon finally got up to see why the bathroom was glowing a bright gold. Judging by the gasp he let out I guessed that he hadn't gotten a good look at me in this form before either. 

"Lashana...." 

"T-this monster....this can't be me," I breathed, reaching out to touch the mirror, my gaze locking on the black talons that had replaced my long fingernails. I shuddered and rose my hand to touch my face, seeing my double do the same. Did I have such a look of shock in my eyes too? "It can't be...." Denial - not just a river in Egypt. 

Arms wrapped around me from behind, making me blink in surprise as the woman in the mirror was joined by my Bonded as he slowly lowered his head to nuzzle at her hair, and I jumped slightly when I felt him prick me in the ribs with his talons. The sudden sensation jerked me out of whatever state I had been in, making a shiver travel down my spine as I blinked, breaking the spell that the sight of my reflection had put me under. 

"....'Shana?" 

I closed my eyes and leaned back against him. When I opened my eyes again I saw myself in the mirror, white hair, dark blue eyes and all. "I'm never going to get used to that," I muttered as I glanced down at my arms, frowning at the small black runes for a moment before letting Blackwargreymon distract me with a hug. 

He pulled away a little while later and met my gaze, raising a hand to brush my wild bangs from my eyes. "You're incredible, you know that?" He must've seen the total confusion in my eyes, for he sat on the edge of the bathtub and pulled me close so that I was standing in front of him. "You know what the only part of being in Hell I clearly remember?" 

I winced. "Do I want to?" 

"Yes," he rumbled, sliding his hands up and down my arms. "I remember you leaning over me enveloped in golden light telling me that you loved me. I thought you had changed into an avenging angel." He paused and smiled as he tenderly reached up to brush away the tears that had begun falling down my cheeks. "That _was_ you just now. You're not a monster, my angel. You mustn't think that." 

I shuddered and threw myself into his arms. Even after all the pain he had gone through, the big sweetie only cared about making sure that I was alright. "I love you," I whispered as he wrapped his arms around me and rested his cheek against mine, a low purr rumbling out of him as we held each other. I wouldn't have traded that moment for all the money in the world. 

Granted all the money in the world would have let me afford better locks for the doors. 

~Lashana? Are you up ye-- Ack! Sorry! Sorry!~ 

I groaned and rose my head from Black's shoulder to glare at the Pokemon that was in the process of running out of the bedroom. "Don't you people know how to _knock?!?!_ We're trying to have a moment!!!" 

Blackwargreymon chuckled and released me. "Let me find my jeans and I'll help you track down the dragons." 

"Kay," I muttered, waiting until he had left the bathroom before changing out of one tank-top and into another. I stared at myself a moment longer, then used one of those neat claw things to pin my hair up. "You decent?" 

There was an amused chuckle. "Do you care?" 

I snickered and walked out of the bathroom, sighing in mock disappointment when I saw that Black had already changed into faded blue jeans. "You looked better in the boxers." 

"I am not going to go running around a forest in my boxers." 

"Why not? It'd make a great conversation starter when Thanksgiving rolls around. Besides, it's not like that speedo armor thingy of yours covers any more....or less." 

He grinned and winked. "But it protects _everything_." 

It took me ten minutes to get my mind out of the deepest depths of the gutter. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

~Why are you blushing like that?~ Mewtwo asked when Black and I walked into the Kitchen. I growled and headed for the coffee machine, leaving my Bonded to dissolve into soft chuckles while Mewtwo looked at us as if we were insane before turning back to his newspaper. Smart Pokemon. 

"Oh Gods....it's too early...." I turned and looked at Kang as the draconian staggered into the Kitchen, arms raised above his head as he stretched. "Is there coffee?" 

"Isn't there always?" I asked curiously as I held a mug out to him. He froze in mid-step and stared at me for a moment before grinning and moving forward to give me a bone-crushing hug. _Ack! I needed that rib!_

~Kang, she can't breathe,~ Mewtwo protested for me since I currently was unable to draw a full breath. 

"Sorry!" he yelped, quickly releasing me then reaching out to take the mug of coffee from my right hand and steady me since my knees still weren't sure if they were going to give out under me or not. "I'm sorry. I just.... It's still a surprise to see you..." 

"Among the living? Yeah, I got that," I winced, rubbing at my left side. _I really think he cracked something...._

"Are you alright?" I blinked and looked up into Black's worried golden gaze, forcing a smile as he touched my left cheek lightly. 

"Yeah. M'fine." 

~Liar.~ 

"Evesdropper!" I shot back, glaring at the Pokemon. "You stay out of this." 

~It's not my fault if you think too loudly.~ 

My exact opinion of _that_ was cut off by the low dangerous growl that rumbled out of my Bonded. _Uh oh._ "Time for breakfast!" I grabbed the first edible looking thing and held it out to the Digimon. "Here, have a muffin!!" 

He blinked at me as if I had grown a second head, then chuckled and took the muffin. "One of these days I'm not going to let you distract me." 

"That'll be the day I go to Plan B," I smirked as I turned to get myself a cup of coffee, glaring at Kang when I discovered that he had polished off the entire pot. "You're just as bad as Zelgadis!" I smacked him and shoved him aside, grumbling as I went about getting the coffee maker ready to brew another pot. 

"What's Plan B?" Black asked as he sat at on a stool by the island counter, looking over at me curiously. I snickered evilly. 

"As if I'm going to tell you that." 

"I know that tone of voice," Kang grinned. "It's a sadistic plan, isn't it? If you won't tell him, will you tell me?" 

"No. Because then sooner or later he'll pester it out of you or you'll feel sorry for him and warn him and then I'd be forced to hog-tie you, hang you from the ceiling of the Main Hall and let Telca use you as a pinata." 

~Do you reaherse these ideas or do they just come to you?~ Mewtwo asked warily. 

"Sometimes I reherse, sometimes I improvise," I shrugged. "It all depends on my state of mind at the time." 

"Konichiwa, minna-san!!" 

"Ugh." I turned and glared at Xellos as the Mazoku floated into the room, returning his trickster's smile with a nastier glare. 

"Yare, yare. Did the Chaos Knight not sleep well last night? Tsk, tsk. Blacky, you should learn how to keep her happy! There's a drug that'll help you with tha-- urk!" The last was due to the fact that I had reached up and grabbed him by the throat. 

"Xellos?" 

"Hai Lashana-chan?" 

"_Get out!!_" Thus said/screamed, I drop kicked him out of the Kitchen, not bothering to watch as he slammed face-first into a wall. Instead, I was staring at my Bonded in surprise. "You missed your cue. You've _never_ missed your cue. What's wrong?" 

~Lashana....back away....~ Mewtwo sent, his voice panicked as Blackwargreymon got to his feet and stomped out of the Kitchen. The Pokemon was even brave enough to stop me from going after him. ~I don't think you want to--~ 

"**_TERRA DESTROYER!!!!!!!!!!_**" 

~....go after him....~ 

"Well....at least we know that everyone else is the Palace is awake..." Kang offered as the three of us peered out into the destruction that used to be the Main Hall. 

I replied with my usual finess. "No really? Y'think?" Sarcasm, ya gotta love it. I shoved my way past Mewtwo and picked my way through the mess until I caught sight of Blackwargreymon sitting on what remained of the stairs, elbows on his knees, shoulders slumped. _Dammit...._ I walked over to him and lightly touched his arm, sighing when he didn't acknowledge me. Desperate times called for desperate measures. Such measures included me curling up on his lap and wrapping my arms around his neck. "Warrie?" 

"Don't call me that," he mumbled. 

I sighed and hugged him, rubbing my cheek against his like he always did when he was trying to make me feel better. "But it's cute." 

"So's Elfy, but you don't let me call you that either." It was a traditional conversation, one that always managed to bring a smile from him. He sighed and shifted so that I wasn't in constant danger of falling off his lap to crash down the stairs, his arms loosely curling around my waist. "I'm sorry." 

"For what?" 

"Acting like an idiot mostly," he muttered. "And this," he nodded towards the remains of the Main Hall. 

I didn't think my usual response of 'you're male, you always act like an idiot' would be useful, so I merely hugged him and brushed my cheek against his again. "You're forgiven. But only if you give me a hug." 

He chuckled softly and tightened his arms around me, pulling me closer as he nuzzled the side of my neck and let out a low contented purr. "Thank you." 

"You're wel--" 

"Sweet flamin' shit!! What did you people do to the Main Hall?!?!" 

I growled. "Do you mind?! We're trying to have a moment!!" 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

"Remind me again why I volunteered for this?" 

"Because you're my best friend and you like me?" 

"Hah." 

I grumbled in Telca's direction and took another drink of my coffee, frowning as I finished off the mug. "That's it. I'm going out to the woods." 

"You're not going to start looking on your own are you?" Kang frowned from where he was waiting for his toast to finish toasting. "You'll never find the dragons that way. It'll take forever." 

"I ain't gonna find them sittin' here, either," I retorted as I walked out onto the patio and slammed the door behind me. I immediately regretted snapping at Kang, but truth be told I was getting mighty sick of having my time with Blackwargreymon constantly interupted. I knew that the entire Harem had suffered when Telca an I had 'died' but he was my Bonded. When the Bond had broken it must've been like he had lost a part of himself.... _Dammit. Why can't things ever go the way I want them to?_

And thus I managed to work myself into a depressed funk in record time. 

~Blacky, go outside.~ 

"What? Why?" 

~Go. Outside.~ 

I glanced back towards the patio door as Mewtwo shoved Blackwargreymon out onto the deck and glared at the Pokemon. "What are you doing?" 

~Helping you look for the dragons.~ 

"Liar." I saw him startle before he smirked and reached out to touch my forehead. 

~You still think too loudly,~ he murmured. ~Now come on, let's find the trio.~ 

I stared after him as he leapt off the deck and flew towards the forest, blinking a few times before looking at Blackwargreymon, who sighed. 

"I missed something, didn't I?" 

"Yeah. I'll fill you in later," I promised. "For now though... _RAYWING!_" I flew off the deck and hovered in midair as I twisted to look back at him. "You coming?" 

"Hey!! Wait for me!!" Telca screamed, running out of the Kitchen and leaping onto Blackwargreymon's back. "Mush!" 

I sighed. "Oh for the love of...." 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

"Here dragon, dragon, dragon!" 

I rolled my eyes and looked over at Telca. "You've got to be joking. They're not stupid enough to answer to _that_." 

"They're your dragons. You never know." 

I glared at her, grumbling at the grin she sent me. We had been out here for three hours, searching the forest around the Palace for any signs of my missing dragons without any luck whatsoever. Even with the entire Harem helping in the search, there had been no sign of draconic life. _Maybe they went into town... or maybe they were captured.... or maybe-_

"I know that look. Stop panicking. We'll find them." I blinked and looked over at Telca, sighing moments later. 

"Yeah okay. You're kinda-sorta right." No way was I _ever_ going to fully say that she had been right. I had my sanity to think of. I turned from her and cupped my hands to my mouth. "Kalamadea!! Korin!! Akhor!! Where the flamin' hell are you?!" 

"I dunno if they heard you, but I think I've lost a good percentage of my hearing," Kang grumbled as he fought his way through a thick bush and walked over to me. "There's something you have to see." 

My heart leapt into my throat and stayed there as he led Telca and I to a small stream, where Mewtwo and Kenshin were waiting. "What? What is it?" _Ohmigod they're dead...._

"Clawprints," Kenshin told me, kneeling to point out the small footprints in the soft earth. "Three sets." 

_They're alive!!_

~Of course they're alive.~ I winced and looked at Mewtwo, who was glaring at me. ~Don't ever think otherwise.~ 

I sighed and looked over at Telca. "Now what?" 

"You're asking me?" 

"No, I'm talkin' to the tree. Of course I'm asking you!" 

"Why me?" 

I growled and debated smacking her with something. Like a tree. "Because you're the one who's best at setting up traps." 

"Why, that's so sweet of you admit!" I snarled. "Say please." 

_I'd rather kiss Xellos._

~Really?~ 

_Shaddup, 'Two. And get out of my private thoughts-- hey! That's it!_ I turned away from Telca and grinned at the Pokemon. "You're still maintaining those psychic blocks in my mind, right?" 

~Riiight. I resumed doing so the moment I knew you were alive. What of it?~ he frowed, obviously not getting it. I rolled my eyes. 

"If you take them down, then I might be able to sense the littlings! Comprende?" I grinned as understanding dawned in his eyes, then glanced back at Telca. "Don't need those traps anymore. You can take your' say please' and shove it." I smiled at the glare she sent me, then turned to Mewtwo. "Do it." 

~You're sure?~ He took the glare I sent him as a 'yes'. I closed my eyes as he came closer and rested his fingers on my temples, shivering when I 'felt' him ease himself into my mind, easily lowering the mental blocks he had placed there. ~Done. Any difference?~ 

I blinked and looked around for a moment, trying to get my bearings. "That way," I announced, pointing east. "Kang? Anyone looked over there yet?" 

He frowned and shook his head. "Not that I know of, though I think Malcho and Blacky are nearby." 

"Perfect! Do me a favor?" 

"Always." 

"Bleh." 

I threw a glare over my shoulder at Telca. "Shaddup." Plan forming in my mind, I returned my attention to Kang and grinned. "Go tell Black and Malcho what's changed and meet us...uh...half a mile east of here in ten minutes." I smiled at his look of shock and smirked. "Get Malcho to give you a lift, snake moves damned fast when he wants to. 'Two? Could you tell the others what's going on and have them meet us in the same place?" 

"What's going on in that head of yours?" Kang asked as he reached out to lightly tap a talon against my forehead, chuckling when I swatted his hand away. 

"I don't think the dragons can sense me. They think I'm dead, remember? But I can get a basic idea of where they are, but..." I paused and shrugged. "We'll still have to look around a bit." 

"Alright. Makes sense." 

"What am I supposed to do?" Telca asked, folding her arms over her chest as she looked at me curiously. 

_I can think of a few things..._

~Lashana.~ 

I sighed at Mewtwo's warning tone and met Telca's gaze. "We need bait of somekind. Think you can portal back and get a few May West cakes?" 

She narrowed her eyes at me. "So _that's_ what happened to the box I had stashed in the Library!!" I winced. "You so owe me for this." 

I nodded and waved as she leapt into a portal, sighing when it shut behind her. "Well.... I suppose I could distract her fury with a crate of Ho-Ho's...." 

Kang chuckled and gave me a friendly slap on the shoulder. "I'll meet you in ten minutes, then!" 

"Right." I smiled as the draconian ran into the underbrush again, his scales melding with the forest's tones so perfectly that I had no hope in hell of tracking him by sight. I gave up trying to find him seconds later and turned to Mewtwo instead. "So?" 

~They'll meet us there.~ 

"Perfect." _Now if only everything else can go this smoothly...._ I sighed and started walking. "You comin'?" 

He chuckled, making me glance back at him in surprise. ~I have a better idea.~ Before I had a chance to ask him what the hell he was thinking of, he ran forward and threw me onto his back, ignoring my yelp of surprise as he lunged forward. 

By the time my heart had returned to it's normal rhythm, he had managed to cover at least half the distance to the meeting spot. I opened my eyes and found that I had thrown my arms around his shoulders in a death grip, and sighed and I forced myself to relax, not wanting to throw him off. _A little warning next time, okay?_

~Alright,~ he chuckled, making me grin. It had only been a day since Telca and I had come back, and this was the first instance that made me think that everything was truly going to be alright. ~Hold tight!~ 

I blinked, then loosed a yell of shock when he leapt straight upwards, clearing the tree that had loomed in front of us. He had obviously been going too fast to safely veer around it. Why slow down when you could clear said tree in one leap? I laughed and hugged him as he plummeted back to earth, gasping when he landed without even missing a stride. _Thanks._

~For what?~ he asked innocently, glancing back at me. 

_You know._

Mewtwo chuckled again and returned his attention to the forest around them. ~You're welcome.~ 

By the time we reached a small clearing, I was certain that we had made a new Inter-Dimensional record for distance covered in a disgustingly short amount of time. Not that I was complaining. Well, I was, but only because Mewtwo had misjudged the span of a stream and gotten me smacked in the shoulder with a branch. 

~You're sure you're alright?~ 

"Ask me again and you'll find out. Aw shit this hurts..." I hopped off his back and rose my left hand to touch the forming bruise on my right shoulder, frowning as I wove a Healing spell on myself. "Quit working yourself into a panic. I'm fine." I lowered my hand and let him see my newly Healed shoulder. "See? All better through the miraclulous power of Magick!" 

He sighed. ~I am sorry. I thought there was enough room.~ 

"It's alright," I assured him, glancing behind me when a low growl caught my attention. "Black, I know it's you. We're Bonded, remember?" 

There was the sound of a disappointed grumble. "Can't ever sneak up on people anymore...." I rolled my eyes and grinned at Mewtwo as the Digimon extracted himself from the bushes and walked over to me. "How are you?" 

"M'fine," I smiled, casually reaching up to pull a burr off his t-shirt and tossing it over my shoulder. "Where's Kang an Malcho?" 

Blackwargreymon smirked and pointed up, making me blink curiously for a moment before I followed his gaze to the sky, gaping as the familiar quetzacoatl flew past, his tail firmly curled around the upside-down and struggling draconians right ankle that was hanging dangerously close to the treetops. 

"Oh lovely..." I muttered, catching the last bits of Kang's roaring curses. "I didn't think a snake and a toaster could do that. Ah well.... YO MALCHO!! Down here!!!" 

"AAAAHHHHH!!!" _THUD!!_

I blinked and looked at Kang where he had slammed into the ground at my feet, then rose my gaze to the winged snake that landed a little ways away. "When I asked him to get you to give him a ride, this is _not_ what I meant." 

"He got here, didn't he?" Malcho grinned. 

_L-Sama give me strength._ I reached down and hauled a woozy Kang to his feet, lightly slapping him to fully return him to the land of the conscious. "Hey. You okay?" 

"I'll be better when you stop slapping me!" Oooh. Touchy. 

"Fine." I stopped supporting him, smirking when he immediately collapsed. "That better?" 

He grumbled out a response that made both Mewtwo and Malcho wince in imagined pain. I merely grinned at him and reminded him that while I had promised to never hurt him, that I still had those photos of the time where he had fallen into a pool full of jello. He grimaced and shut up. Smart draco. 

"I'm baaaaack!" Telca's reappearance was accompanied by a wail of pain from Kang when she leapt out of the portal and landed on him. "Whoops. Sorry, Kang. Didn't see you there." 

Black frowned. "How could you not see him?" 

She grinned. "I closed my eyes." 

I chuckled. "Didja get them?" 

"Yep. Last three," the other sorceress said as she held up the three May West cakes. "And I brought something else, too." 

"What?" I asked, staring at the cage that she pulled out of another portal. "You've got to be kidding me. I am _not_ letting you try to catch them with that!" 

"Then you do it," she shrugged, tossing the cage at me and smirking when I caught it and found myself forced to take a few steps back to keep my balance. "I'll draw them out with the food, and you jump 'em." 

I frowned and looked at the Guys, sighing when they shrugged. "Fine. Guys, go hide somewhere. I don't know what state of mind the littlings are in and I'd rather not risk them getting spooked." I turned and followed Telca deeper into the forest, moving to crouch behind a large bush once she had found a spot that she liked. 

"You ready?" she asked, glancing back at me. 

I nodded, then remember that she couldn't fully see me. "Yeah. Go for it." 

"Right." She turned and opened the first of the three May West cakes, using a bit of her Power to increase the breeze that was lightly playing with the leaves of the trees and bushes around her, sending the scent of the cake further into the forest. 

I grimaced at a cramp in my left calf and shifted my weight as I let my gaze dart around our surroundings, hoping for a glimpse of blue scales, or even a flash of sunlight off of white hide... something. Anything. _Please be alright.... please...._

"Elfy!" 

I startled at Telca's hissed whisper and peeked through the bush, nearly screaming in relief when I saw an irridescent blue form flit through the branches of a tree above us before it dove down to hover in front of Telca. It was Kalamadea. And I was shocked to discover that he had doubled in size since the last I had seen him. He was magnificent. Scales rich shades of dark blue, purple and green, horns just starting to take full shape, wings fully formed. I had to remind myself to breathe. 

"Anytime now!" Telca whispered to me, throwing a glare over her right shoulder. 

I blinked and shook myself awake, glacing at the cage for a moment before setting it aside and slowly rising to my feet, staring over at one of my dragons. 

"What are you doing?! Get the cage!" 

I ignored Telca with practiced ease, my gaze locked on the sky-blue eyes that were staring at me in what I could only determine was shock. _Kalamadea? Can you hear me?_ When I didn't get any response, I reached for the weakened link and brushed my thoughts against it. _Littling?_

::_MOMMY!!!_:: 

I yelped as Kalamadea slammed into me with enough force that I had to take frantic backwards steps to keep my balance. I rose my arms and cradled the trembling dragon that was clinging to me, feeling tears sting my eyes as I held him. _Kalamadea.... _I was so distracted that I never took notice of the other two forms divebombing towards me until they crash landed onto my shoulders, sending me crashing to the ground with a wail of surprise. 

::_Elfy!!_:: 

I now had a mild concussion from introducing my head to a rock, three whimpering dragons attached to me, and a laughing Telca standing over me. I didn't know whether to take it as a good sign or a bad sign that I now considered things to be back to normal. All I cared was that I had found my dragons, that my Bonded was pulling me to my feet, and that Mewtwo was suddenly joining me in hugging the dragons. 

We were a family again. 

It figured that I needed an Excedrin. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

::We thought you were dead!:: Kalamadea rumbled into my thoughts the dragons, Mewtwo and I had regrouped to the Game Room. Along the way back I had discovered that the three dragons had not only matured in body, but in mind as well. Their intelligence and vocabulary had practically doubled. ::We couldn't feel you, Elfy!:: 

I sighed and moved to sit on a stool next to the island counter, reaching up to remove Korin from my left shoulder since he was starting to get upset again and was digging his talons into my flesh. Akhor sinply refused to budge from my right shoulder, so I left him there. "I was dead, littlings. It's....it's a long story. I'm back though.... I missed you three." I sighed again as they curled up in my arms. "Why didn't you stay with Mewtwo?" 

::Not daddy's fault,:: Korin said as he clung to my shirt, climbing up until he could press his chest against the spot where my heart was. ::We sensed his....depression. We didn't know what to do. We were lonely. We had to leave.:: 

~It's not your fault either,~ Mewtwo murmured. ~I didn't know what to do either.~ 

::Mommy?:: 

"Yeah Akhor?" 

::What happened to your aura? It's....different.:: 

I blinked and glanced at Mewtwo. "It's a long story." 

::We're not going anywhere,:: Kalamadea told me. 

Mewtwo smiled. ~Go ahead,~ he whispered into my thoughts when I looked at him in askance, knowing that he, like all the Harem, didn't like being reminded about our deaths. ~It's okay.~ 

I mustered up a weak smile and returned my attention to my dragons as I began to retell the events that had changed all of our lives forever.   
  
  
  



	8. 06/12/02 What do you mean, 'we need all ...

_We own ourselves, the dragons, Telca's cat and our brand of insane fic ideas. Oh, and Lashana owns the two newbies ^_^_   
  


06/12/02 What do you mean, 'we need all the help we can get'?!   
  
  


_Ah sleeping in. How I love thee. Let me count the ways....actually let's not and say I did._ A low rumble from my left made me look over at the three dragons that were sprawled out on top of the dresser, and I couldn't help but snicker at the sight of Korin on his back, all four legs lifted high into the air. Calling the sight 'odd' simply didn't cut it, it was plain funny. Of course, since my sense of humour was still sleeping, I figured that I'd simply poke fun at him later. For now, I just wanted to snuggle up to the heat source next to me and pretend that the outside world didn't exist for another two or three hours. 

Silly me. I should have known better. 

As Blackwargreymon purred and moved closer to me in his sleep - he was really pushing that line between snuggling and hentainess - the peacock hued form that was lying on the dresser twisted it's head around and looked at me with curious sky blue eyes, a draconic grin spreading over his face when he saw I was awake. 

::G'morning, Elfy!:: 

Gah. _Kalamadea.... s'too early._

::It's almost ten!:: 

_That's what I said. It's too early!_

::Hmpft. Lazy.:: 

_I ain't takin' no sass from an overgrown lizard._ Thus announced, I rolled over and pulled the blanket over my head. 

::Mommy?:: 

I groaned. When one dragon wakes up, they _all_ wake up. I tried to block them out by starting to sing the Spiderman theme song in my head, but when my sleep addled mind turned 'look, over head' to 'he gives radioactive head' I decided that I probably should stop before anything leaked through the Bond to the still sleeping Digimon.... 

....or before Kalamadea laughed himself to death. 

Well, now that my mind was enjoying it's newfound place in the gutter, I figured that I might as well try to get up. 'Try' being the operative word. First I had to get away from Black. It's not that easy to free oneself from the arms of a Digimon that's just pinned you in a bear hug. Luckily, the wonders of whacking people with pillows until they let you go worked perfectly....unless you counted that fact that I now had to deal with an annoyed and awake Digimon. 

"'Shana? What in the world's are you trying to do?" 

"I'm trying to get you to let go--ack!" The last bit was because while I was in the process of pulling myself free, he chuckled and merely let go, letting me tumble off the bed to become one with the floor. Oh yeah, this was going to be a loooong day. "I need coffee." 

Another low chuckle drew my attention to the Digimon that was leaning over the side of the bed and looking down at me in amuzement. "Happy now?" he grinned as he slouched on his right side and propped his head up on his right fist. I debated hitting him with something. Fortunately for him, I was distracted by the three forms that had just glomped me. 

::_ELFY!_:: I winced. I still hadn't been able to break them of their habit of all three of them yelling into my thoughts at the same time. 

_Softly, littlings._ I groaned and slowly sat up, not liking how my neck ached at the moment. "Korin, get off my head." 

::Sorry!:: he grinned, extending emerald wings to glide over to the bed and burrow into a pile of blankets. Damn, I'd never be able to get him out of there now.... 

::Isn't it time for breakfast?:: Akhor asked as he turned pleading golden eyes to me. He _knew_ I had a weakness for that puppy look, and damned if he didn't use that trick on me on a daily basis. 

"Fine, fine. Just let me get off the floor first," I sighed, smiling when Black automatically reached out with his free arm to effortlessly lift me to my feet before pulling me back into bed. "You do realise this whole thing started because I wanted to get _out_ of bed, right?" 

"Oh I realise that," he smirked as he brushed his cheek against mine, a low purr leaving him. "But I also know that you love me and that you'll put up with me if I keep you here a little while longer." 

I smiled and leaned against him, closing my eyes as he hugged me. It had been a little over two weeks since Telca and I had 'returned from the dead', and while things had pretty much gone back to whatever passed as normality around here, the Guys were still a little overwhelmed at what had happened. Hell, if someone had stepped out of a portal a month after I had seen them die, I'd have problems not glomping them in joy every five minutes too. 

Unfortunately for Black, there were three dragons that wanted to be fed. And they wanted to be fed _now._

"OW!!" I jerked back in shock at the Digimon's yelp and blinked when he roughly threw the covers aside, making me reaffirm my adoration of him in boxers before I saw the green dragon that had it's teeth embedded in his right calf. 

_Why you little..._ "Korin!! Let go of him this instant!" I yelled, glaring at him when he worked his fangs a little deeper into Black's flesh before pulling away. 

While I busied myself with trying to keep Blackwargreymon from throwing things at the dragon, Kalamadea took it upon himself as the oldest of the trio to smack Korin, which of course drew Akhor's attention, which then resulted in the fact that Black and I had to leave our bed or risk being pulled into the hissing, biting and clawing fight that was now taking place in the middle of the mattress. 

"They're not rabid....right?" my Bonded asked me as he propped his foot up on a chair and examined the bite mark on his leg. I was too busy slamming my head against a wall to notice. 

~*~ 

By the time I had finished my frantic search of the closet for a clean pair of jeans, separated the trio, Healed Blacky, restrained Blacky from punting Korin out a window and then restrained Korin from biting Blacky again, it was well past eleven am. Needless to say that when I finally managed to get to the Kitchen, not only was I in desperate need of caffeine, but I was also in need of an Excedrin or three. 

And as usual, the Kitchen was a warzone. 

I ducked a flying muffin and reached back to snatch Kalamadea out of the air before a thrown fork hit him, cradling him in my arms as I sighed and waded into the fray. It surprised me to some extent to see Kang cooking breakfast while half a dozen Guys sat at the island counter and inhaled the food as fast as he could set it out, but the smell of fresh coffee quickly fwaped that surprise aside and took over. 

::Weren't you supposed to feed us?:: Kalamadea yelped as I shoved my way over to the coffee machine, punting Zelgadis out of the way as I did so. 

"Caffeine before food," I replied as I relocated him to my left shoulder, secured my favorite mug and filled it with the precious, precious coffee. 

"Lashana!" 

"Huh? Ack!" I juggled the mug as someone glomped me, the three dragons that were clinging to my shirt hissing in annoyance as arms and wings envelloped me, and I wailed in dismay when the coffee mug slipped through my fingers... 

~I've got it.~ 

...then grinned as a blue aura caught it and lifted it back into my hands. "Thanks 'Two." I looked up at a sheepish Kang and rolled my eyes. "Y'know, a simple 'good morning' would suffice." 

"Where's the fun in that?" he chuckled as he gave me a final hug before pulling away to let me drink my coffee. "You want breakfast?" 

"Mm. Please. An put a few extra pieces of bacon and sausages on for Kalamadea and Korin, would you?" 

"Sure thing. I think there's still a piece of leftover salmon in the fridge," he told me as I relieved myself of Akhor by simply relocating him to the draconian's right shoulder before I handed my mug of coffee to Mewtwo and headed for the fridge. 

"Ya want help, darlin'? It's rather fiesty today," Wolverine said as he and Nightcrawler watched me approach the appliance. 

"S'okay. I'm good," I smiled. Now, it isn't the fridge itself that everyone's a little leery of, it's the thing that lives _inside_ the fridge that we have to watch out for. Last time someone didn't use the utmost caution, a tentacle seemingly made from leftover potato salad and ham had wrapped around their throat and tried to pull them into the fridge. Luckily, Telca an I had put the utmost fear of females into whatever lived in there, so it usually left the two of us alone. 

There were gasps of fright as I opened the door, watching impassively as half a dozen tendrils shots out and made as if to grab me before freezing in place. I arched an eyebrow at it. It shuddered and retreated into the back of the fridge. The Guys behind me gaped in shock as I calmly reached in and rummaged around the fresh leftovers before claiming my prize and slamming the door shut. 

"I will never understand how she does that, dude," Nightcrawler muttered to a chuckling Mewtwo as I opened the tuperware container and used a fork to break the fillet of salmon into small pieces. 

"It's elementary Fuzzy," Duncan grinned. "It remembers what she did to it last time. I've never seen someone actually beat up a fridge before." 

"What can I say? I have many hidden talents," I smirked as I walked over to the small table near the patio door and set the bowl down. "Okay Akhor. Go for it." I ducked as a white form shot past me and went to retrieve my mug, sighing as I slid onto a free stool next to Mewtwo. "Did we get the newspaper?" 

~No,~ the pokemon reported as he took a sip from his own mug of coffee. ~That's the fifth day in a row that it hasn't been delivered.~ 

"Can't blame the guy. Not after what the trio did to him," Zelgadis pointed out with a smirk. 

I chuckled and nodded as Kalamadea and Korin hopped off my shoulders and landed on the countertop. I remembered well the screams from that poor human when the trio had divebombed him and proceeded to engage him in a tug-of-war for his delivery bag. It didn't help one bit that the human possessed a rather large phobia of snakes. We found that little tidbit out when I had sent Malcho out to stop the yelling. I never knew males of any species could reach that level of screaming. 

"I'll try to call the newspaper delivery service later today," I said as I watched Korin try to beg Wolverine for the rest of his bacon while Kalamadea rolled his eyes and stayed close to Mewtwo and I. "'Sides, y'all could always just go online." 

~They don't have my comics.~ 

I snickered into my mug for a moment before looking over at a still quiet Xellos. This was unusual. Xellos, being calm and quiet. It made me nervous. "What did you do?" 

He looked at me and smiled, raising a hand to wag a finger in front of his face. "Sore wa himitsu desu, Knight-Sama!" 

_Bedamned Mazoku._ "Don't give me that crap, Xel," I growled, seeing him crack an eye partially open to look at me curiously. "Out with it." 

He leered. "Out with what, exactly?" 

I shuddered. "Kang?" 

"On it. _FIREBALL!!!_" I nodded to the draconian in thanks as the fruitcake went flying out the open patio doors. The appreciation didn't last long considering that Xel rebounded off a tree, then richoched off a chair, the lawn and a rock before soaring through the doors and landing right back in his chair. 

I groaned and rose a hand to cover my eyes. "It'll never end...." 

Mewtwo was kind enough to give me a reassuring pat on the back. ~Drink your coffee.~ That was his solution to everything. Coffee. Well, that and Cherry Pepsi. Never thought a pokemon could get hooked on Cherry Pepsi.... 

A loud belch from the direction of the table made me grimace. "Akhor, excuse yourself." 

::Hehe, sorry.:: 

"Ne, Knight-Sama?" 

"What Xel?" 

"You're going to have a visitor today! He's a friend of mine!" I lowered my hand and looked at the disturbingly grinning Mazoku in wary fear. A friend of his? Oh Lords.... what monstrosity were we going to end up with? 

I thought Zelgadis summed my thoughts up rather nicely. "NO!!!" 

While Korin glomped Nightcrawler, Kalamadea shivered and tried to burrow into my arms. ::Not another freak....:: 

"Aw...why not?" Xellos didn't seem to realize that that pouting look only worked on me if it was coming from someone I actually liked. 

"Because we value what's left 'o our sanity," Wolverine growled. "Ya ain't bringin' any other Mazoku in here, bub. No way." 

"But it's too late! He's already on his way!" The Mazoku turned to me, opening his eyes fully to meet my gaze. "And it's very important that you meet him, Knight-Sama." 

"I'll introduce myself before I fire a Dragon Slave at him," I promised before taking another drink of my coffee, quirking an eyebrow when Wolverine and Kang bodily threw the fruitcake out of the Kitchen. "Thanks Guys." 

"You're not worried?" Nightcrawler asked in obvious shock. 

"Should I be?" 

~Yes,~ Mewtwo frowned. ~Didn't you hear him? He's invited another Mazoku here! There's no telling what we'll end up with.~ 

I sighed and set my mug down. "Well, according to L-Sama, I outrank everyone except her in the Mazoku power hierarchy. And since I really don't think she'd lie to me, I'm not too terribly worried." 

"And if what he invited isn't Mazoku?" Kang asked as he set a plate of food in front of me, sighing when Kalamadea and Korin immediately swarmed my breakfast. 

I shrugged and reached into the draconic fray to steal a piece of bacon. "I improvise." They shuddered. I mean, honestly, just because my 'improvisations' usually include a Dragon Slave, a baseball bat and an AK-47, it doesn't mean they have to get such a look of fear on their faces! Yeesh. "Uh...Kang? Since there's a dragon sitting on my pancakes....can I get another breakfast? Just toast and bacon would be fine." 

He blinked at me, then slowly nodded. "Uh...yeah. Sure. You're really not worried?" 

"Ask me again and I'll throw a stale muffin at you," I muttered as I poked Korin aside and grabbed a piece of bacon. 

"Who's throwing what at who now?" 

I blinked and looked over at the other Avatar that lived in the insanity I call the Palace. "Heyla Telca. What, Remy isn't attached to your hip today?" 

She stuck her tongue out at me and darted around Kang to steal the plate of food he had been making for me. "Like you're one to talk. Where's the turtle?" 

"Upstairs, and he's not a turtle." I still didn't understand how she thought Blacky looked like a turtle. I suppose it was one of those unsolvable mysteries. Like where all the socks went when we did the laundry. "That's my breakfast you just stole." 

"Is it? Sorry. But I'm hungry. Kang'll make more, won't you, Kang?" She sat on a stool next to me and sent a sickly sweet smile in the dracos direction. 

He flicked his tongue over his fangs and grumbled out something in his native draconian language. I didn't understand it, but whatever it was, it sounded colourful. I sighed and placated myself with playing tug of war with Kalamadea for a piece of sausage. 

::I'm a growing dragon! I need my food!:: the peacock hued dragon hissed into my thoughts, flashes of red and orange punctuating his words. I rolled my eyes and merely lifted the piece of food into the air, eyeing the dragon that was now dangling by his fang-hold on the sausage. 

~He's definately from your side of the family,~ Mewtwo told me as he joined me in staring at the hatchling in barely veiled amuzement. 

Telca snickered. "He's certainly got Elfy's stubbornness down pact, doesn't he?" 

I looked at her. "Hello? Pot? This is the kettle returning your call." 

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. At least Mischief isn't stupid enough to eat Duncan's cooking." 

Korin ducked his head slightly. ::I only did that once! I didn't know it would make me sick!:: Ah yes. That had been a not-so-fun night. Dragons and food poisoning didn't mix. 

"Uh huh. Suuure. Ack!" The burgundy haired sorceress ducked as Akhor did a close flyby past her head before he landed on my left shoulder, crooning in pure contentment as he curled himself around the back my neck. "Lashana. You have a pair of eyes in your hair." 

I relented in trying to get anything from the bottomless pit known as Kalamadea and set the dragon back down before snickering. "He blends in well with my hair, doesn't he? Scared the living daylights out of Zelgadis a few days ago. Eh Zel?" 

The chimera smirked and gave me the one finger salute before going to refill his coffee mug. Ah yes, life was back to normal. I grinned and leaned against Mewtwo, tilting my head back to meet his amuzed gaze. "So what're y'all planning for today?" 

The pokemon chuckled and curled his tail around my waist. ~Personally, I'm going to log some time in the Danger Room. I've let myself slip.~ 

"We always knew your sanity would slide away, Purple," Telca smirked, not even phased by the nasty glare he sent her. I rolled my eyes and looked over at Kang as he handed me a plate of bacon, sausages, toast and eggs. 

"What part of 'just toast and bacon' didn't you get?" I asked as I eyed the enourmous amount of food. 

"What? You barely eat anything. With all the energy you burn off flinging spells around, it's a miracle you and Telca manage to stay healthy!" I rolled my eyes and munched on a piece of toast, letting him continue his rant for a bit longer. "And you can't just live off of coffee and chocolate, you're a fighter, you need decent food!" 

I exchanged glances with Telca and shrugged. Sure, we burned a lot of energy using our magicks and getting into fights, but what the draconian didn't know about was that we had stashes of food all around the Palace. 

"Dude, chill," Nightcrawler grinned, watching the draconian work himself into a rant that even I would be proud of. "She's eating already. Yeesh. You want me to bamf down to Beast's lab and get you some Valium?" 

"No I don't want Valium," the draco grumbled, folding his arms over his chest as he leaned back against the counter and looked at Telca and I. I arched an eyebrow at him quizzically and made a grand show of sinking my fangs into a sausage, hearing Telca's insane laugh when the draconian winced. 

~Lashana, don't be perverted around the dragons,~ Mewtwo scolded me. Silly him, didn't he realize that I'd corrupted the dragons a long time ago? They _were_ linked to my mind after all. I suppose that explained why they were laughing at Kang like they were. Oh, look, draconians _could_ blush. Hehe. 

So while Kang grumbled and cursed and generally acted like a spoiled male, I let Kalamadea and Korin help me eat my breakfast. It didn't surprise me at all that they had just finished a lumberjack's breakfast and were still hungry. It did surprise me that they weren't waddling yet, but that was about as far as my surprise factor went these days. 

A low rumble drew my attention to the Digimon that strolled into the Kitchen, and I smiled as I let my gaze travel over him approvingly, liking how those jeans of his were snug at just the right places. "What took you so long?" 

"I went and threw a load of clothes into the washer," he told me, blinking when Telca choked on her breakfast and when I gaped at him and dropped my fork, the utensil clattering loudly on the floor. "What?" 

"You....you....did _laundry?!_" 

"Yeah? So?" 

Telca and I exchanged shocked looks. "They _can_ be taught!! Sweet Goddess, _they can be taught!!_" 

Kalamadea looked up at me as if I was nuts. ::What in the worlds has gotten into you?:: 

"Almost an entire year of nagging, and _finally_, it all pays off!" Telca grinned at me. "We've converted the most stubborn of the lot, the rest will soon follow!" 

Blackwargreymon turned from me as I cackled along with Telca to look at Duncan. "Did you put something in her coffee?" 

"Me? No. Never. Why would I do that?!" I thought he sounded _way_ too innocent and _way_ too panicked, but luckily Black noticed it too. Hence the reason that the Immortal had just been punted out of the Kitchen. That Digimon saves me so much work. 

I got control of myself and nudged my plate over to him. "Help me eat this. Kang seems to think that I can eat this by myself and not gain ten pounds in the process." 

"With all the spells you do it's a miracle you have the energy to move every morning. Why do you think I eat so much and never gain anything? I have to make up for lost energy when I lob those Terra Destroyers that usually end up saving you from getting pulverized." 

I glared at him, ignoring Kang's smug smirk as I grabbed another toast and a few pieces of bacon, swatting the dragons away from the food as I did so. "That's enough you two. Your stomachs are buldging." 

::Are not!:: Korin protested. 

"Oh yeah? Try to lie down. Your chest won't even touch the counter," I smirked, seeing him blink slowly before swinging his head down to look at his distended belly. 

::Oh.:: 

::Yeesh.:: That was from Kalamadea. It freaked Mewtwo out sometimes when the dragon and I acted exactly alike. I was about to comment on how Kalamadea really shouldn't be poking fun at Korin when he was in the same boat when a loud gong sounded from the Main Hall. I arched an eyebrow at Telca curiously. 

"What? The other doorbell wasn't loud enough!" 

"Uh huh. Be right back." I slid off the stool and headed for the Main Doors of the Palace, tucking locks of my unruly hair behind my pointed ears as I neared the huge ordinate doors, wincing when the gong sounded again. _Gods that's loud!_ "I'm coming already!! Keep yer shorts on!!" I grabbed the handle and gave it a rough yank, throwing the door open with considerable force. "What already?!" 

The sight that greated me actually managed to startle me into silence. That doesn't happen often. Standing in front of me was a creature I had never seen before. He - it was obviously male due to the lack of clothes (think dragon here people. Internal everything. Of course if you _want_ go be hentai...) - looked like a humanoid dragon. But not like a draconian, mind you, that wouldn't have startled me so much. Instead of scales, he had dark skin that rivaled my Bonded's midnight black complextion, and the few gold rune-like markings along his arms and legs gave him an almost demonic appearance. A long spade-tipped tail swayed behind him, as if he was nervous but trying not to show it. The inky blackness of his body gave way to a deep gold that covered his chest and underbelly, the contrast working rather well for him. He stood at least six feet five, which meant that I had to look up to study his face, blinking when lama-like ears swiveled in my direction, locks of long golden hair held in place by two black horns that were akin to an antelopes. Black and gold leathery wings twitched slightly, and I had to firmly remind myself to breathe as I steeled myself before meeting his gaze. Sky blue eyes stared back at me with equal surprise as a narrow muzzle opened, revealing rows of wicked looking fangs. 

"Is this the Harem Dimension?" I felt Ahkor shift on my shoulders at the sound of that wonderfully rich baritone voice, the sensation startling me back into something akin to coherancy. 

"Uh...yeah. Yeah it is." I blinked some more then wrenched my gaze from his, eyeing the wicked double bladed weapon he had. What did I mean by double-bladed? Remember Darth Maul's double lightsaber? That's what I meant. This thing looked damned dangerous. Naturally, I wondered if I could find it in one of the weapon catalogues that Telca and I subscribed to. "What can I do for you?" 

A look of resigned disgust flashed over his face. "Is Xellos Metallium here?" 

I quirked an eyebrow at him. _This_ was Xellos' 'friend'? "Yeah. C'mon in." I turned away and headed for the stairs. "_XELLOS!!_ Get down here you fuckin' fruitcake!!" 

There was the distinct sound of a teleport behind me seconds before lips brushed against my right ear. "Do fruitcake's fu--" I cut him off by spinning around and introducing my fist to his face. 

"Don't piss me off, Xel. Else I'll portal you into the Teletubbies dimension again," I wiped my hand clean on my jeans and gestured to the new arrival. "There's your friend. Have fun, I have to go disinfect my hand with bleach." 

There was a disgusted sort of choke behind me. "I'm not his friend! He's just the only contact I have here!" 

"Contact?" I turned and looked at the newbie, eyeing him warily. "Contact for what? Xellos, what aren't you telling me?" 

"Sore wa himitsu--" 

And thus I got to see that double-bladed weapon in action. My, oh my, but I wanted one of those. So now that there were many Xellos pieces littering the carpet, I let out a weary sigh and eyed the arm that was trying to reach my foot before slamming the heel of my boot onto it. "Touch me and die, namagomi." I looked at the new arrival. "Nice. But why are you here? And why in the Gods would you have Xel as a 'contact'?" 

"It's a long story that I'm not permitted to tell you at this point in time. Suffice it to say that I'm looking for the new Chaos Knight." 

My eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Why?" 

He looked at me for a moment, seemingly studying me. "As with every one before him, I serve the Chaos Knight as Guardian and Teacher." 

_Hmm. This is interesting. _"Her." 

"Excuse me?" 

I smirked, really wanting to see his reaction. "You said 'him'. The Chaos Knight is female." 

"Female?" There was actually a look of pure terror on his face. "You're certain?!" 

_This was not what I was going for. _"What's the matter with that?" I frowned, absently kicking at a piece of Xel that brushed against my boot. 

"The last female Chaos Knight..... did not treat me very well....." he muttered, avoiding my gaze. "I do not wish to experience that sort of pain again." 

I felt my temper start to rise, but quickly bottled it up before I did anything stupid. "You won't." I said adamantly. 

"How would you know?" 

I smirked and folded my arms over my chest, putting my weight on my right leg as I looked at him. "I don't hurt people unless they give me a really damned good reason." I swear he almost passed out from shock. Poor guy, I just hoped that whoever had hurt him before was very very dead. Else I'd have to go pound them into the ground. 

He stared at me in total dumbfounded shock for a moment before - and I swear he did this - he dropped to one knee and bowed his head. "F-forgive me! I did not know! Please, spare my li--" I cut him off by crouching in front of him, looking at his shivering form for a moment before I grabbed his arm and stood, gently forcing him to stand with me. 

"I won't hurt you," I whispered, grabbing his arm again when he tried to kneel again. "Stop that. You don't have to do that." 

"You're the Chaos Knight. L-Sama's Chosen. I have to show my respect." His voice sounded hollow, as if he had once believed those words. I frowned and reached up to poke Ahkor. 

"Littling. Give us a bit of privacy, would you?" I murmured. _And don't tell the others. Especially not Black. Not yet, alright?_

::Oh, alright. But you have to tell me what happens later on!:: he sent to me as he uncurled himself from around the back of my neck and leapt into the air, wings spreading to their full width as he lazily soared into the Kitchen. I glanced at the newbie to judge his reaction and smirked at the expression of shock on his face. 

"C'mon," I said as I opened a portal and hopped into it, emerging into the Library. I glanced back as he warily stepped through, and waited until he was clear of it before closing it. While I threw myself down onto the couch, he stood in the middle of the room and stared at the shelves upon shelves of books lining the walls, the sunlight streaming through the windows warming the air around us. I waited until he had remembered that I was there before speaking. "Now, what's this all about? And for Goddess sake, stop kneeling!" When he didn't get up, I rolled my eyes and slid from the couch to sit in front of him, catching his shocked look as I shifted to sit lotus style on the hardwood floor. _This is going to take some work. It's like he's been conditioned! He keeps looking at me like he expects me to attack him!_

"You shouldn't...." he trailed off, his tail lashing behind him. 

"Shouldn't what?" I coaxed gently. "Shouldn't treat you like an equal? Why? Because I'm the Chaos Knight? Please. That's the biggest load of crap I've ever heard. I don't treat other people like they're 'things' that are beneath my attention. Believe it or not, but that happens to include you." I sighed and leaned back against the front of the couch. "So, you gonna tell me what all this is about? Cuz I really don't want to go and try to get information out of Xellos." 

Even he shuddered at that thought. "It's as I said before, M'lady. I'm to serve as your Guardian and Teacher, as I have served those before you." 

I took a shot in the dark. "Then you're Immortal?" 

"In a sense. While I do not age, I am not invincible. I can be hurt, even killed." He looked at me and actually grinned. "Though it's not an easy thing to do." 

"I certainly hope not," I agreed, meeting his gaze. "Why are you afraid of me?" 

He blinked and slowly shifted so he was sitting lotus style like I was, lying his weapon across his lap as he eyed me warily. "The only other female Knight I served was....evil. I don't have a better word to describe her. She had tapped into the Chaos by accident, and used magicks to fuse it to her soul. I was merely a pet to her, a thing to be exploited, experimented upon and used for....entertainment....." 

I don't know what expression I had on my face at the moment, but I think at that point that it was something beyond murderous, for he gasped and immediately bowed his head, trying to be submissive. I stiffled a growl and reached over to gently grasp his muzzle and raise his head, forcing him to meet my gaze. "Is she dead?" 

"What?" 

"Is she dead?" I repeated, dimly aware that my eyes were flashing from blue to gold and back again. 

"Y-yes. She died a hundred years ago." 

"Good. Then I don't have to go beat the living daylights out of the bitch." I released him and got to my feet, going over to stand in front of an open window. _Dear Gods.... what in the worlds is WRONG with people these days?!_ I shook my head slightly and closed my eyes, letting the breeze that was flowing into the room wash over me. 

I heard him get to his feet and hesitantly approach me. "M'lady?" 

"Don't call me that," I whispered as I turned around to face him. "I don't know how things were like in the past for you, but things are going to change. First and foremost being that you have to come to terms with the fact that we are equals. No more and no less. Second," I paused and pulled a dagger out of a portal, seeing him tense at the sight before I slid the blade against the palm of my left hand, fisting my hand to let the blood flow. "You have the Blood Oath of an Elf....that for as long as there is breath in my body, I won't let anyone treat you like that again." 

He stared at me for a moment before lowering his gaze and stepping forward to take my bleeding hand in both of his. His eyes were unreadable as he lightly cupped his hands around mine, a white light emmenating from his palms for a brief moment before he pulled away, letting me see the Healed cut. "You honor me, M'lady." 

"Lashana." 

"Pardon?" 

"It's my name. As opposed to 'M'lady'?" 

"Oh. Right. I am Tvashtar," he paused a fidgited for a moment before meeting my gaze. "I....I suppose Xellos was right when he said that you were different than the others." 

I quirked an eyebrow. "Xellos said what now?" 

"He told me that you and were unlike any other's that the Universe had ever seen." 

"Xellos said that?" When he nodded I blinked. "That almost makes up for all the times he pissed me off.... almost...." I sighed tossed the dagger into a storage portal, running my hands through my hair afterwards. "Alright. C'mon. If you're gonna stay here then you might as well meet the others." 

"The others?" 

"Well yeah. I don't live alone. Telca, you probably heard of her, she's the new Gaia Avatar, and I have around two dozen guys living with us and....why are you staring at me like that?" 

"The Gaia Avatar?! She's _here?!_ In the same building?!" 

"S'what I just said," I muttered, curious as to why he had such a look of wary hope in his eyes. "What?" 

He blinked at me, not understanding that I wasn't understanding. "Surely you don't think that you're the only Avatar to have a Guardian?" I blinked. "The Guardian to the Gaia Avatar....he's my brother! I haven't seen him in decades!" 

I stared a moment longer, then groaned. "This is turning into a frakkin' soap opera.... Alright, then we'd better hurry and explain this to Telca before he gets--" 

"_LASHANA!!!!! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!?!_" 

"--here." I sighed. "Oh nevermind. C'mon." I opened another portal and stepped through, emerging into the warzone that was the Kitchen. A quick look around showed me that the Guys were what I call on 'high-alert' and the fireball that Telca was holding didn't help matters any. _Frak._ "Telca, chill." 

She turned to look at me and glared. "What the hell is going on? Who's this? Why is he looking for me, and who the hell is that behind you?!" 

"Kadrith!" 

"Tvashtar?!" 

I watched as Tvashtar darted past me and fairly threw himself at a creature that could have been his double. The only difference was where Tvashtar was black and gold, the other one was a deep bronze with a cream coloured underbelly and cream, copper, and bronze streaked hair. I let them reunite and crept over to Telca, meeting her 'what the hell is going on' glare for a moment before I grinned and pulled one of those party noisemakers out of a portal, setting it off right in her face. "Surprise! You have a bodyguard!" 

_WHACK!!_

~*~ 

"Damned banshee doesn't have a sense of humour...." I grumbled as Blackwargreymon carefully lifted the icepack to look at the nasty bruise I had on the side of my head, a lovely reminder that rolling pins were deadly weapons. 

"You did deserve it," he told me, wincing when I slowly turned my head to glare at him. "Nevermind." 

"Bloody Digimon...." I looked over to where 'Kadrith' and Tvashtar were talking energetically and figured that a bump on the head was worth it. However that moment passed as soon as Black touched the painful bruise. 

"Does this hurt?" 

"OWOWOWOW!!! _YES!!_ It hurts!!" I swatted his hand aside and fairly tore the icepack away from him, grumbling lowly as I rested the numbing ice against my head again. "Sadist." 

"It's not my fault if you pissed Telca off," he grunted, ignoring the glare I sent him this time. Actually I imagine it was easy to ignore considering that I had to narrow my eyes to block out the bright light that was the sun. I figured that if I didn't get a migraine from this that it would be an Act of the Gods. 

A soft croon accompanied by the sensation of a small body curling up on my right shoulder helped ebb the sudden urge to fireball something, and I sighed as I gathered the other two dragons to myself before carefully sliding off the stool. 

"Hey. Wait! Lashana, you shouldn't be walking around yet!" I growled at my Bonded and stepped around him, then around Mewtwo and Kang. 

"Lashana-" 

"Don't. Touch. Me." I said lowly, the three dragons loosing warning hisses as I trudged past the Guys and slowly plodded my way up the stairs. I wanted to use my portals, but I damn well knew better than to try to weave that spell when I had a headache. I was dimly aware of the Guys exchanging worried looks as I reached the second floor then started up the next set of stairs, heading for the Library. _At least I can lock myself in there for a few hours...._

::Mommy?:: Kalamadea whispered in my thoughts, a worried flash of yellows and greens making me wince. ::Are you alright?:: 

"Uh huh." 

::Liar,:: Korin frowned, looking up at me with worried red eyes. ::Why didn't you stay with Blackie?:: 

_Because if he pokes me one more time and asks 'does this hurt?' I may just kill him._ I adjusted the ice pack and grimaced as I reached the third floor, the change in altitude making my head hurt even more. Luckily, stubbornness is a wonderful trait, I think that's the only thing that managed to get me into the Library. 

~Lashana?~ I made a sound between a moan and a sob and collapsed on the couch, leaning my head back so that I was staring at the ceiling. 

"What?" I croaked out loud. Thinking hurt. A blue glow drew my addled attention over to the Pokemon that had teleported in front of me, and I grimaced when I saw that he had brought people with him. "What do you want? Go away." Yes, I was an enigma wrapped up in insanity wrapped up in complete incoherancy. 

"That's a contradiction of terms," Kang chuckled. I groaned and flopped back against the couch, slouching down into the cushions. "Here." I cracked an eye open and gazed at the Excedrin and the glass of water he was holding out to me and wondered if they were worth dropping the icepack for a few moments. I settled for grabbing the pills then the water, enabling me to keep the pain-numbing ice against my head. 

"Now go away." The dragons hissed in agreement. I liked my dragons a lot at the moment. 

"Lashana." I looked over at my Bonded and sighed as he moved to sit next to me, his arms slowly wrapping around me to pull me into a gentle hug. 

I whimpered and clung to him. "My head hurts." There's nothing like stating the obvious. Really, there isn't. 

"It's a miracle you're still conscious," he murmured as he stroked my hair, trying to calm me. I closed my eyes and curled up in his arms, hearing his worried rumble as he cradled me against him. 

"With a head as hard as hers it doesn't surprise me one bit." We all looked towards a silver and white glowing portal, and I winced when Black growled as Telca stepped out into the room. "You okay?" 

~You hit her with a marble rolling pin. How do you think she is?~ Mewtwo growled, blinking in shock when the other Avatar merely pushed him aside and walked over to me, completely ignoring the nasty glare that Blackwargreymon was giving her. 

"You did deserve it," she muttered to me as she rose a hand in front of me, the glow that emenated from her palm making me close my eyes again. When the light faded, so too did the mind numbing pain, and I took a moment to blink in surprise before raising a hand to touch the spot where the bruise was....or rather where it used to be. Kalamadea stuck his head into my hair and privately announced that the bruise was gone, making me sigh in relief. 

"Thanks...I think," I said, gently pulling away from Black and getting to my feet, meeting Telca's gaze warily. "You didn't kill Tvashtar and his brother, did you?" 

"No. And I resent the implication," she answered, folding her arms over her chest as she glared at me. I sighed and reached up to massage my aching temple. The pain from the concussion was gone, but the headache was still there, as was the urge to fireball something. "You gonna explain all this?" 

::Do we have to?:: Akhor asked, looking at Telca like one looks at a screaming child that they don't want to go near. 

I groaned and threw myself back down onto the couch, sitting sideways so I could lean against my Bonded's side. "From what Tvashtar told me, he and his brother are supposed to be our Guardians and Teachers. They're Immortal, so they've served all the other Avatars before us." 

"I don't suppose there's a loophole to get us out of this, is there?" I shook my head and she dropped her arms with a sigh of exasperation before she shoved my legs aside and sat on the couch next to me. "Lovely. What now?" 

"I have no--" 

"Sore wa himitsu desu!" I snarled at the voice and rose my gaze towards the ceiling, glaring at Xellos. 

~Go away!~ Mewtwo growled, launching a psychic energy sphere at the Mazoku and scowling when Xel merely phased out then appeared directly in front of me, floating upside down so his gaze was even with mine. The three dragons that had been staying close to me hissed and flew over to glomp Mewtwo. That was the standard Mazoku. When Xel's nearby, go to the one who can shield you the best in case Lashana goes ballistic. 

"Aren't you happy I brought him here? He's got soooo much negative emotions locked away, they're just _so_ tasty!" I immediately knew he was talking about Tvashtar. He knew it too, for he grinned and leaned closer to me. "I'm going to enjoy bringing them out. Think chaining him up would get a decent reaction?" 

Telca looked at me, obviously intending to ask what the freak was talking about, but she stopped and stared at me for a moment before glancing at Black. "You might not want to be touching her right now," she advised him, and I was dimly aware of him looking at me before frantically pulling away. 

As Mewtwo and Kang followed my Bonded's example and moved as far away from me as they could, I reached up and shoved Xellos out of my face, slowly getting to my feet afterwards. I had meant what I had told Tvashtar, I didn't go around giving my Oath for party quirks, and I had to admit that I actually liked him, his soul was pure, I didn't want to see it destroyed. And Xellos knew that. But I knew that Xel would try to make Tvashtar's life a living hell, either by tormenting him directly or going through his brother. Damned if I was going to let that happen. 

"Would someone explain this to me?" Telca demanded as she stood up, standing next to me as she looked at me expectantly. 

I growled. "There was another female Chaos Knight a hundred years ago. Tvashtar was bound to be her Guardian and Teacher, only she was....think female Demon Highlord." I kept my gaze on Xellos as I spoke, letting my anger grow as I saw the delighted smirk on his face. "She hurt him. Used him for experiments and other things that I don't even want to know about. _He_ wants to use Tvashtar as some new food source." 

An equally angry growl echoed mine, and I glanced over to discover that Telca was looking at Xellos in a rage that was almost equal to mine. She looked at me and smirked. "Shall we?" 

I grinned. 

~*~ 

The mad chase of Xellos through the Palace was the most destructive that there ever had been. But it was worth it. Telca and I had formed a plan with just a shared glance. It was simple, effective, and downright evil. Remember that 'happy' spell Telca had created? The one that would bombard Xellos with feelings of love, and happiness and friendship? The complete opposite feelings that he fed off of? The one where, everytime he thought, felt or said something perverted, the spell would immediately boost it's lovey-dovey feelings? Heh. Well, Telca had already put that spell on him when I had thrown that first fireball at him. And we all know how much Xel _loves_ pain. However, now that he had that spell on him, everytime he got hurt and tried to enjoy it, the spell's 'happy' feelings went up a notch. Evil, ain't we? 

So now we were chasing the very afraid Xellos through the Palace, screeching and generally living up to the term 'insane banshees', our favorite weapons held high in the air as we tried to catch up to him. It was an added bonus that the 'happy' spell weakened him so that he couldn't teleport, so that meant that he could either run or try to fly. He was doing a mixture of both when we hit the Kitchen. 

Poor Tvashtar and Kadrith. I imagine the sight of Xellos flying past them and out the patio doors startled them enough. The sight of the armed and insane Telca and I charging after him must have really unhinged something. Unfortunately I was far too busy enjoying myself to notice. 

While Telca merely dashed through the Kitchen and out the doors, I leapt up onto the island counter and used the added height to launch myself after the fruitcake, a fireball leaving my right hand and slamming into the Mazoku's back, stunning him enough for Telca to embed her axe into his side. Too bad that spell didn't stop him from being immortal. He shook off the attack as well as he could considering that the spell had just boosted up another notch, then shakily threw himself into the air. 

"Y-yare, yare, K-Knight-Sama!! I was only joking!" he cried as Telca and I loosed another barrage of fireballs at him. "Can't you take a joke?!" 

I glanced at Telca and grinned when she smirked and nodded. _I'm gonna enjoy this._ Letting her take my sword, I hopped up onto the deck's railing, an aura of power flickering into existance around me as I rose my hands. "_Darkness beyond twilight! Crimson beyond blood that flows, buried in the flow of time. In thy great name I pledge myself to darkness! Let all the fools who stand before me be destroyed by the power you and I possess!_" I looked up at Xellos and gave him a fanged grin, delighting in the first true look of panic I had ever seen on his face. "_DRAGON SLAVE!!!_" 

Telca grinned at me as I turned and jumped off the railing. "Now _that _was funny." 

"Very funny," I agreed as I took my sword back from her and casually leaned the blade against my right shoulder, joining her in watching the large ball of destructive energy in the sky. "You have to teach me that spell." 

She chuckled evilly. "And miss out on being able to participate in this again? Hell no." We both chuckled at that, then turned and headed back into the Kitchen, casually talking about how we could increase the spell's effectiveness. 

I glanced over at the stunned and gaping Tvashtar and Kadrith as we walked past them and met the former's gaze. "You'd better be careful. Xellos knows about your past. He wants to....exploit it." I looked out the doors and smirked. "Though I think he'll be out of our hair for a while." 

"Too bad. That was fun," Telca snickered as she set her axe on the counter and grabbed a box of 'Pot of Gold' out of a cupboard, opening it and holding it out the three of us. "Chocolate?" 

I think I saw Kadrith twitch. 

~*~ 

"I still can't believe that the Avatar of Gaia and the Avatar of L-Sama are....best-friends...." Tvashtar muttered for the fifth time in as many minutes. After he and his brother had recovered enough to form complete sentences, they had moved to sit at the island counter and immediately started asked questions, most of which Telca answered because I was too busy rampaging through the cupboards in search of my Ovation stick mints. 

"What's wrong with that?" I asked as I climbed up onto the counter to reach the top shelves, shifting through a bunch of canned food and quirking an eyebrow at the sight of a can of fried crickets. _I don't even want to know._

"Nothing, I suppose. It's just never happened before. We didn't think that the Avatars of Life and Chaos stood for the same things," Kadrith answered for his brother. His voice wasn't as deep as Tvashtar's. More like a soft tenor. I smirked and glanced at Telca. 

"What do you stand for?" 

"A Xellos free world, X-Men comics and chocolate for all." I chuckled and grinned when I found my box of mints behind a jar of pickles, closing the cupboard before hopping off the counter, smirking when I saw Kadrith lower his face into his hands. 

"What? I think those are very sound things. Especially the anti-Xellos world," I sat on a stool next to Telca and munched on a chocolate mint-stick. "Why exactly are you two here? I mean, yeah, we know about the Guardian and the Teacher thing. But _why?_ We can mostly take care of ourselves..." 

"What do you mean 'mostly'?" Telca frowned. 

"Need I state the Demon Highlord incident as reference?" 

"Oh. Right." 

Tvashtar frowned. "Demon Highlord?" 

I shrugged and started on a second mint. "It's a long story. Suffice it to say that we got caught up in a Demon War that we didn't want anything to do with but didn't have much choice. We fought and killed a bunch of demons that wanted us dead and pissed off the Highlord in the process." 

"Almost a month and a half ago he showed up here wanting revenge. This was before the whole Avatar thing, so we were pretty much overwhelmed...." Telca trailed off for a moment before continuing. "He kidnapped two of the guys. Elfy an I followed him into Hell and saved them but.... well we died in the process." 

I waited until I thought Kadrith and Tvashtar had properly absorbed all of that before taking up where Telca had left off. "We came to in the Sea of Chaos. That's where Gaia and L-Sama told us that we had accidentally become their Avatars. That was two and a half weeks ago." 

"Wait. Accidentally?" 

Telca glanced at Kadrith and nodded. "They were the ones that gave us the strength to defeat the Highlord, but in the process their Power merged with our souls. Personally I don't know how someone can 'accidentally' let their powers merge with someone, but hey, what do I know?" 

I resisted the urge to delve into sarcasm and bit down on another mint stick, grinning when three familiar forms swooped into the Kitchen. My grin faded when the three dragons completely ignored me and went for the chocolate. "Gah. You're an ungrateful bunch, you know that?" I grabbed the only mint stick that wasn't in the process of being consumed and pulled it out of the range of the trio. 

"They're yours?" Tvashtar asked, looking at Akhor curiously as the dragon fought Korin for a piece of chocolate. 

"Yeah. That's Kalamadea, the green one is Korin and the white is Akhor." While I explained the whole fiasco about how I ended up with three dragons to Tvashtar, Kadrith turned to Telca, studying her for a moment before getting off the stool and walking around the counter to kneel before her. I glanced over and made a mental note to try to break them of that habit. 

Kadrith bowed his head. "I am at your service, Lady Telca." 

Telca grinned and looked at me. "Y'think we can teach the rest of the guys to do this?" 

"Hardly," I muttered, sending her a disapproving look as I did so. She sighed. 

"Alright. Alright. Yeesh." She turned away from me. "Kadrith, was it? Get off the floor. You don't have to do that." 

He glanced up at her in surprise. "But you're the Gaia Avatar! Doesn't everyone bow to you?" 

"I wish," Telca grumbled sourly, glaring at me when I snickered. "You shut up." I got myself under control and sent her an innocent 'who me?' look. "Yeah, yeah. Your halo's being held up by your horns." 

I smirked. "I wouldn't talk if I were you. Kadrith, please get off the floor. Honestly, you and Tvashtar don't have to drop to your knees every time you see us." I glanced at my supposed Guardian and arched an eyebrow. "Right?" 

He glanced at his brother, then back at me. "Yes, M'lady." 

::'M'lady'? You're kidding right?:: Kalamadea snickered, ignoring the glare I sent at him as he broke out into hysterical laughter, rolling around on the countertop. 

"Traitor," I growled. 

"Okay, back to the original question," Telca said as Kadrith sat next to his brother again. "Why are you here?" 

"We were created to serve as guides and protectors for the Avatars of Life and Chaos," Kadrith answered, wings spreading slightly. "We're bound to you until another Avatar takes your place. And that may be sooner than you think." 

I blinked at that, staring at him as Kalamadea got control of himself and flew up to perch on my right shoulder. "Why?" 

"The challengers of course." 

"Challengers? What challengers?" Telca frowned, looking from Kadrith to Tvashtar. "What the hell are you talkin' about?" 

"Other followers of the Goddess' will track you down and fight you for your place as Avatars," Tvashtar told us. I groaned and banged my forehead against the countertop, dimly aware of Kalamadea's yelp as he tried to keep his balance by clinging to my shirt. 

"I thought we'd be left alone after all that," I complained, my voice muffled by the counter. I rose my head and looked at Tvashtar. "How bad is this going to be?" 

"It all depends on who finds you first." I groaned and buried my face against my arms. "It's not that bad. Kadrith and I are sworn to you, we'll prepare you for what's to come as best we can. ....And I think that perhaps....I for one will bend the rules and fight the challengers with you." 

"What?!" Kadrith yelled, startling Telca and I. "Are you insane?! We're not allowed to chose who should be an Avatar and who shouldn't!" 

Tvashtar looked at him for a moment before turning his gaze to Akhor as the dragon moved to arch his back under his hand, begging to be scratched. "Maybe it's time to change that." 

Telca leaned closer to me. "You certainly made an impression. What'd you do?" 

"Not much. I just swore that no one would treat him like the last female Avatar treated him." 

"You call that 'not much'?" 

"Well, I was going to track her down and beat her to death, but since she's already dead it kinda crimped the plan a little." 

"Uh huh. I can see how it'd do that." 

"Do tell." I paused and looked over at the two creatures, blinking when I saw that they were staring at us in shock. "What?" 

Kadrith glanced at Tvashtar before looking at me again. "You would have done that? Gone after her?" When I nodded, he glanced at Telca. "Are you certain you're the Avatar's of Life and Chaos?" 

**You doubt? **I blinked and looked around, spotting a familiar form floating a foot off the floor seconds before both Kadrith and Tvashtar dropped to their knees. 

"Dammit, L-Sama! I'm trying to break them of this!" I growled as I got to my feet and walked over to Tvashtar, trying to get him off the floor. 

**Good luck. They've been serving our Avatars for half a millennia.** She chuckled. **They're almost as stubborn as you are.**

Telca smirked. "Not possible." 

"Shut. Up." 

**Tvashtar, Kadrith, these two _are _the Avatars you saught. But they're different than the ones you served before them. They're balanced. Each has light and darkness within them, that is why they will be your salvation, just as you will be theirs. Besides, they need all the help they can get. **Goddesses, they wouldn't be able to give a straight explaination if the Universe depended on it. Telca and I exchanged exasperated looks and moved to litterally haul our two Guardians to their feet, ignoring their startled looks as we glared at L-Sama in annoyance. 

"What do you mean 'we need all the help we can get?!" I muttered sourly. "We can take care of ourselves!" 

"And would the moon explode if you gave speeches that _weren't_ in riddles?!" Telca growled. "We don't need salvation, thank you very much." 

**Not at the moment, no. But you will.**

I grumbled various opinions I had of her speech under my breath after she had vanished and released Tvashtar's arm once I was sure he wasn't going to drop to the floor again. "I'm _really _starting to hate it when she does that." 

"You an me both. At least mine tends to leave us alone," Telca muttered. 

"That's because she's the only one that gives straight answers," I growled sourly, looking towards the doorway when a familiar heavy tread caught my attention. "This is going to take some explaining." 

"Can I?" Warning signals went off in my mind at the level of glee in Telca's voice, but at the moment I simply didn't care. 

"Go for it," I shrugged, wondering if I had made the wrong decision as she cackled and bolted out the doorway. "Maybe I shouldn't have said that..... Oh well, too late now." I turned my gaze to the two Guardians and sighed. "Well, I suppose we should see about getting you two some rooms." 

"We usually bunk in the same room as our Avatars," Kadrith told me, blinking when I paled. "What? It would be separate beds. We would never--" 

I shoved the mental image of what Black would do to Tvashtar out of my mind. "It's not that. Y'see, Telca and I are.... um.... 'involved'. I, for one, know my Bonded would _not_ appreciate sharing our room." 

They exchanged glances. "Oh," Kadrith murmured. "Then.... a room next door perhaps?" 

I snickered. "I don't know what rooms are free in Telca's wing, but I can show you which are empty in mine. Actually, just a sec...." I walked over to the door and stuck my head out into the hallway. "_FUZZY!!_" 

_BAMF! _"Ack! Geez, Lashana! I'm not deaf! Well, I might be now...." Nightcrawler trailed off at the sight of the two creatures and backed towards me. "Uh, hi?" 

I waved brimstone smoke away from my face. "You know what rooms are free in Telca's section?" I coughed. 

"Yeah. There's a few of them. Why?" 

"Meet Kadrith and Tvashtar. Guys, this is Nightcrawler. Also known as Kurt or Fuzzy Elf," I grinned at the teen. "Kadrith's Telca's Guardian and Tvashtar is mine. It's a long story, so don't start pestering me with questions just yet, kay? I'm still recovering from when Telca hit me with that rolling pin. Just do me a favor and show Kadrith around." 

He shrugged. "Sure. But where's Telca?" 

"Knowing her, she's probably trying to give my Bonded a panic-attack," I chuckled, tucking my hair behind my ears as Korin landed on my left shoulder and started to fight Kalamadea for the better clawholds on my shirt while Akhor chose to perch on Tvashtar's right shoulder, much to his surprise. 

"Good luck then," Nightcrawler grinned before turning to Kadrith. "You'll like it here. Mostly." 

"'Mostly'? What does that--" _BAMF!_ I lost the rest of Kadrith's sentence due to Fuzzy's teleport, and for a moment I wondered what the teen was going to tell him. But it passed. Mostly due to the sensation of Korin sinking his talons into my flesh. 

"C'mon," I said to a slightly overwhelmed Tvashtar as I removed Korin from my shoulder and carried him in my arms. "I'll show you your choice of rooms." 

"Thank you, M'lady." 

"And you don't have to keep doing that either," I murmured as I opened another portal and hopped through, turning to look at him as he followed me. 

He looked at me and smiled. "It's a sign of respect. Besides, it's....second nature. I was trained to submit to my Avatar." 

"Yes well, 'your' Avatar doesn't want you to submit," I smirked. "I'd much rather have someone tell me that I'm being a complete idiot than have them constantly agreeing with me." I sent a warning glance at Kalamadea when he looked like he was about to broadcast something. "No comments from you." 

::Funsucker.:: 

I rolled my eyes and headed down the hallway. "Kay, that room's free, and there's another two doors down and to the left and another five doors that way on the right. The rest are all TV and storage rooms." 

"Which room is yours?" I quirked an eyebrow at him and saw him duck his head slightly before he seemingly caught himself and straightened. "If I'm supposed to be your Guardian I can't be half a hallway away." 

::Either that or you want to get in her pan--:: I cut Korin off with a sharp glare. 

"I don't even want to know where you learned that," I growled at him as he chuckled and leaped out of my arms, heading downstairs. I exchanged annoyed glances with Kalamadea, then returned my attention to a very embarrassed Tvashtar and pointed a little ways down the hall. "My room's there. There's a free bedroom directly across from it." 

"I'll take that one then," he nodded, walking past me and opening the door, his jaw dropping as he looked inside. Curious - I was afraid that one of the Guys or the trio might have trashed it - I joined him and peeked around him, looking at the large bedroom with the double bed, two nightstands, full sized desk, computer, empty book shelves and the attached bathroom. He choked slightly. "This...you can't be giving me this!" 

"Why the hell not?" 

"It's huge! It's too much, I can't accept...." he trailed off at the look I was giving him, then glanced from me to the room and back to me. "Are you certain?" 

"The other two rooms are exactly the same. Actually I think the third room is a bit bigger and has a queen sized bed...." I paused at his look of shock and planted my hand on my hips. "Take the room. If you want I'll bring you into town later and get some better blankets and sheets for the bed. The stuff that's on there now are the ugly mismatched ones we give to guests that we don't like." When he nodded dumbly, I smirked and casually reached up to brush a long bang out of his eyes. "Welcome to the insanity."   
  
  
  
  



	9. 06/14/02 This is not going at all the wa...

_Disclaimer: We own nothing but ourselves, Tvashtar, Kadrith and the dragons. There will be no sueing of us as we have no money.___

_Whoo-hoo! It's finally finished!! This should damn well hold all of you for a while, it's over 45 pages long! That means that I can expect a decent number of reviews from you! ^_^_   


06/14/02 This is not going at all the way I planned....   
  


Ah Fridays. The most wonderful of all weekdays. It's the day that signifies the beginning of that glorious time : the weekend. And I had been looking forward to this weekend for a while now. Why, you ask? Simple. Because most of the Guys were going out for an 'all weekend Guys only camping trip'. That meant that I would practically have the entire Palace all to myself! Well...almost. I still had my dragons, Tvashtar and Kadrith, Telca, Nightcrawler, Malcho, Zelgadis and Beast, but compared to how many people there usually were, this was going to be one sweet weekend. 

And speaking of Tvashtar and Kadrith.... Those two were just starting to settle into the 'groove' of things. They were still nervous around Telca and I (apparently the other Avatars had been real pieces of work), but other than that, I thought they were doing pretty good. _Now if only I can get Tvashtar to realize that he doesn't have to be up at 5am every day...._ I shook my head at the thought and stretched a little as I walked down the hallway, Kalamadea and Akhor perched on my shoulders. I, unlike my Guardian, kept up the wondrous tradition of not getting up until at least 9am, and even then, that was early. 

Kalamadea yawned in my ear. ::Why are you so awake? You don't usually get up before 10.:: I grinned and looked at him out of the corner of my right eye. 

"Because Blackie and a bunch of the others are leaving this morning. I want to see them off." 

::You just want to make sure they leave,:: Korin chuckled from where he was lazily flying above me. 

"That too." I paused at the top of the stairs for a moment before chuckling and sliding down the banister, feeling Akhor dig his talons into my shirt while Kalamadea loosed a rather loud roar of elation. I grinned and did a perfect dismount, landing right in front of a gaping Kadrith. "G'morning! Is Telca up?" 

He blinked at me for a moment, wide dark green eyes following the form of Korin that swooped down to land on my head, then shook himself out of the semi-catatonic state my entrance had put him in. "Yes. She's in the Kitchen with Remy." Another blink. "Do you always do that?" 

"Sure. Why not? It's fun," I grinned as I turned to head for the Kitchen, pushing the swinging door open and staring at the chaos within. "Oh. My. Gods." 

Calling it a war zone wouldn't have given it proper credit. All the Guys that were leaving for the weekend were there, and all of them were ransacking the cupboards for edible food for the weekend while they practically consumed anything else as breakfast. I stood there for a few more moments before tentatively stepping into the room, letting the door swing closed behind me as I watched Kang wrestle Blackwargreymon for the last box of Pop-Tarts. 

::Mommy?:: 

_Yeah Kalamadea?_

He leaned forward a little and looked at me. ::When are they supposed to leave again?:: 

I chuckled. _Soon._

"Comin' through!" 

I yelped as the swinging door impacted with my back, sending me staggering forward right into the path of a running Duncan. Instinct made me twist to shield the dragons, incidentally tripping the Immortal and sending him sprawling to the floor where a just arriving Wolverine pushed the door open further and rendered Duncan unconscious by tripping and landing on him, the five cases of beer he had been carrying arching into the air. While the others ran about catching the first four, I looked up at a box of Labatt Blue that was coming towards me and shrugged as I rose a hand. "_FIREB--_" 

"Noooo! Not the beer!! Not the beer!!" 

Wolverine's panicked yell cut me off, effectively screwing me over. Now I didn't even have time to _dodge_.... 

And a black spaded tail wrapped around my waist and yanked me out of the way, letting Kang make a frantic dive towards the 24 pack, a grunt leaving him as he hit the floor seconds before the box landed on his head. 

The three dragons and I heaved identical sighs of relief before I looked from the tail that was still wrapped around my waist to Tvashtar, who was eyeing the others in the room like one would eye a group of mental patients in a ward. I smirked and lightly poked him, meeting his gaze as he turned away from watching Wolverine glomp the saved box. "Thanks for the save, but you can let go now." 

"Is it always like this here?" he asked as he released me, quickly pulling me out of the way of a airborn stale muffin. He had learned about those deadly weapons the hard way during yesterday's breakfast. 

"Mostly. This is pretty tame," I shrugged, seeing his eyes widen in shock before I turned and grinned at my Bonded. "'Mornin. Glad to see you not trying to kill the newbie." That had also been a problem. Black had already appointed himself my bodyguard, and apparently the newly arrived Tvashtar was now considered a threat to our relationship. I was now actively looking into testosterone inhibitors. Granted that rant I had gone into the night before seemed to still be in effect.... 

"Breakfast before pleasure." Or not. I sighed and looked at him, easily intercepting the glare he sent at Tvashtar with one of my own. He actually winced. 

"Blackie, you are _such_ an idiot." 

I smirked and looked over at the couple that emerged from the Dining Room. "Remy, kiss Telca again, I think I liked her better when she was giddy." 

The Cajun chuckled. "Dat only work de first time, petit. Though Remy's pretty sure he can do somethin' else dat make his sorceress giddy." I swear, Telca actually blushed. 

"No PDA's!" Wolverine growled as he set the fifth beer case on the small Kitchen table, then walked over and whapped Blackwargreymon. "Ya an I 're gonna talk. _Now._" I blinked and watched as the Canuck literally dragged my Bonded out of the room, then exchanged baffled glances with Telca. 

"Do I even want to know?" I asked, seeing her shrug in response. 

"Oh he's probably going to whack some common sense into Blackie's thick skull," she chuckled as she leaned back into her Cajun's arms. 

"Good thing he's got an adamantium skeleton then," I murmured under my breath before turning to get myself a cup of coffee, blinking when Tvashtar held my already filled mug out to me. "Oh. Thanks. You didn't have to." 

"It was either make the coffee or help Duncan fight that..._thing_...in the fridge." 

::Good choice,:: Korin said, shuddering as he glanced towards the fridge. ::Can't we just kill it?:: 

::You think they haven't tried?:: Kalamadea snorted. ::Fireballs don't even singe it. It's too...:: 

::Gooey?:: Akhor supplied. I shuddered in disgust at the mental image that accompanied his suggestion. 

"If you three are going to discuss the texture of whatever's living in the fridge, kindly _do not_ send me mental images, okay?" I shuddered again and tried to fortify my mind by taking a long drink of my coffee. "Why don't you go spend time with Mewtwo before he leaves with the others?" 

"Mental images?" Telca quirked an eyebrow at me curiously after the trio had left in search of 'daddy'. 

"Don't ask," I grimaced, reaching out to pull Tvashtar out of the way of the decaffeinated chimera that had just staggered into the Kitchen. "Hi Zel." 

"Gzsht?" 

"Yes, there's fresh coffee." I ignored Tvashtar's shocked look. 

"Mrzgt." 

"Nope. I got the first cup!" 

"You _understood _that?!" I chuckled and looked at my Guardian. 

"I've been living here for almost a year, I've gotten used to deciphering the 'decaffeinated chimera speak'." Oooh, look. Zel _was_ capable of glaring before he had any coffee. I hadn't thought that was possible. I snickered and lightly patted Tvashtar's shoulder. "You'll get use to it." 

"I highly doubt that," he muttered as Kang grabbed the still out-cold Duncan by his left ankle and dragged him out of the Kitchen. 

There was a decidedly evil chuckle from my left, and I arched an eyebrow curiously as I looked over at a grinning Telca. "Oh lords. What have you done?" 

"Think of it. For the first time in a very long while, you and I will have free reign of the Palace!" 

"Need I remind you that Nightcrawler, Zelgadis, Malcho, Beast and our two Guardians are staying behind?" I asked before taking another sip of my coffee. 

"Oh please. Beast always stays in his lab, Nightcrawler's gonna be stuck to a TV, Malcho won't come near me after that shaver incident--" 

I growled. "What shaver incident?" 

"Oh, he didn't tell you? Hehe." I glared. Telca going 'hehe' is _never_ a good thing. Especially when it involves one of my Guys. "He's got a new fashion going." Lovely. Well, at least that explained why he hadn't been around lately. Poor guy was probably hiding out under the deck again. "Anyway, whoever's left can damn well leave us alone or become one with a fireball." 

I sent a reassuring glance in Tvashtar's direction. "Telca." 

"What? It's either the fireball or a baseball bat." 

I groaned. "Remy. Please, get her out of the room." Taking a moment to quickly refill my mug of coffee, I then proceeded to drag my Guardian out onto the deck. _I can practically feel Tvashtar nearing a panic attack._ "Chill." 

"But she--" 

"Look, we do tend to launch spells at the Guys if they're being a royal pain in the arse, but they're not full powered spells." I rose my free hand and loosed a low power fireball at a chair, gesturing to it when the attack barely singed it. "That's the extent of the power we use. It's something akin to a smack. We only use the major stuff on Xellos." I wasn't going to mention the occasional fights that Zelgadis and I had for the first morning coffee. 

"M'lady, I'm sorry. But..." he trailed off and moved to stand at the railing, looking out at the forest. "It's not something that I can forget about in the span of a few days." 

I sighed and went to stand beside him, resting my elbows on the railing. "I know how it feels." When he looked at me in askance, I smiled sadly and stared out at an eagle that was circling the forest. "I've relived the fight with the Demon Highlord almost every night since Telca and I were brought back. The nightmares are quite vivid.... the fear never fades...." I lowered my gaze into my coffee mug, staring at my reflection. "Xellos says that everyone else that had been brought back from the dead went mad from the nightmares..." I pushed away from the railing and sighed as I forced myself to meet Tvashtar's worried gaze. "I know how you feel, and I'll help you any way I can....granted I don't know how much help I'll be considering that I can't even help myself...." 

"Lashana-dono?" 

I turned away from my Guardian and looked over at the resident Samurai. "Yeah, Kenshin?" 

"We're just about finished loading up the van. Blackwargreymon is waiting for you," he said, frowning when he met my gaze. "Are you alright?" 

"Yeah. I'm fine." Lying. It's an art. "The caffeine hasn't kicked in yet," I grinned as I threw my left arm around his shoulders and led him back into the Kitchen. "C'mon. If we keep Blackie waiting he's liable to start lobbing Terra Destroyers all over the damned place." I shoved the knowledge that Tvashtar was following us aside and headed for the front doors, blinking at the sight of the loaded down van that was parked outside. "Holy crow. You're only going to be gone for a few days! Do you really need a.... battery operated coffee maker?!" 

"S'for Mewtwo," Wolverine chuckled when he heard me, glancing at me over his shoulder as he finished tying down the canoe to the rack of the car. "Ya sure ya won't come with us, darlin'?" 

"Very. I remember the last camping trip," I smirked. "Besides, getting you lot out of the Palace for a few days will be akin to Heaven." 

"Har har. Go see yer Bonded, Elfy. I gave 'im a talkin' to. He should have his head outta his arse by now." 

"Thank you for the mental image," I grumbled as I walked around the van, heading for the ever watchful Digimon that was standing on the lawn. "Black...." 

He sighed and knelt to be closer to eye level with me, putting his hands on my shoulders as he met my gaze. "'Shana. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to--" 

I cut him off by lying my right index finger over his lips, smiling at him warmly. "S'okay. You do wonders for my ego." 

A low chuckle left him as he hugged me, brushing his cheek against mine. "Love you. You going to be okay this weekend?" I chuckled. 

"Considering that I won't have to fight you for the blankets? Yeah. I think I'll be okay," I pulled back and grinned as I tapped him on the forehead. "And no keeping tabs on me. You're supposed to _relax_ this weekend, not constantly panic about me, okay?" 

"Okay," he smiled as he stood and looked over at Tvashtar. For a moment I was afraid he'd do something, but he actually managed to surprise me. "You'd better take care of her, y'hear?" 

_I'll be damned._ I saw Tvashtar blink in surprise for a moment before he grinned and nodded, and I smiled at my Bonded in delighted surprise. "Well, so my ranting does nothing but Wolverine's pep talk does, hmm?" Black coughed slightly and glanced away. "Uh huh. Ya'd better hurry before Wolvie runs you over." I looked towards the van and gaped at the sight of the still unconscious Duncan strapped to the roof next to the canoe. "_Kang!!_" 

"It wasn't me! It was Mewtwo!" 

~Oh thank you. What ever happened to 'I won't tell anyone if you don't'?~ the pokemon grumbled sourly as I stalked over to the van. ~It's either Duncan on the roof or Kenshin's gotta run beside the car." 

"Oh. Well why didn't you say that in the first place?" I asked before ushering the samurai into the car. "Someone wanna go pry the lovebirds apart?" 

"Ugh. No." Kang grimaced, eyeing Telca and Remy as they stood on the front steps and gave each other a very long goodbye kiss. 

I rolled my eyes. "Chicken." 

~I don't see you doing anything,~ Mewtwo smirked as he walked over to me, letting Kalamadea and Korin hop from his shoulders to mine while Akhor went to perch on Tvashtar's left shoulder. 

"I'm not that stupid. Unlike you, I have to stay here with her this weekend!" 

He chuckled. ~Good point,~ he admitted as he sent a telekinetic shockwave at the couple, breaking them apart and levitating Remy towards the van. ~Come on loverboy. Wolverine's going to gut you soon if you don't hurry up.~ 

"You had better not let anything happen to my Remy!" Telca called out to the Guys in the van. "Else you're not going to like what I'll do to you when you get back!" 

Kang shuddered and looked at me. "You sure you don't want to come with us?" I laughed and shoved him into the back of the van. 

"Git goin' already," I grinned. "I'm quite capable of taking care of myself for a few days. I don't need you people constantly hovering around me." 

Black looked at Tvashtar. "Good luck," he chuckled as he leapt into the air, hovering above the car. "You're going to need it." 

"I _heard_ that!" I growled, mock glaring at him as he blew me a kiss. 

::Bye Daddy!:: Kalamadea grinned, eliciting an annoyed groan from the Pokemon as he levitated into the air. I chuckled and reached up to scratch the dragon under his chin with my right hand as I rose my left in a wave, smiling as I watched the van pull out of the driveway. _A whole weekend...free!_

::Hehehe:: I blinked at the snickered laughter and looked at Korin. 

"What did you do?" I gasped, recognising the mischievous look in his eyes. "Tell me!" A muffled sound of an explosion caught my attention, and I paled when I saw a silly string covered Kang glaring back at me through the rear window. I shrugged and pointed to Korin, grinning insanely as I did a gaudy little wave in the peeved draconian's direction before hopping into a portal. I emerged in the backyard, right next to the pool. I simply couldn't contain it any longer. "One whole weekend!! I'm free! _FREEEEEE!!!! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!_" 

::That's it. Elfy's cracked.:: 

::How can you tell?:: 

::The insane high pitched laughter was a clue.:: 

::Oh.:: 

_Hmpft_. I pried the two dragons off of me and tossed them into the pool, grinning as I snapped my fingers, using a spell to change my clothes from jeans and a tank top to a conservative two piece bathing suit before I dragged one of those floating mattresses out of a portal and tossed it into the pool. 

"Well, I see you're set for the weekend," Telca grinned when she found me lying on that floater in the middle of the pool, the three dragons happily swimming around me like tiny sharks. I smiled and pulled my sunglasses off to look at her, holding out the drink I had in my hand. 

"Margarita?" 

"No thanks. But you do have a good idea." She followed my example and used a spell to change her own outfit into a one piece bathing suit, sighing happily as she pulled a huge towel out of a portal and spread it out over a lawn chair before lying down. "I heard that little insane cheer of yours." 

I chuckled and put my sunglasses back on, sipping at my drink. "I'm surprised I beat you to it." 

"You just happened to be louder. I think you almost gave your Guardian a heart-attack." 

I snickered and brushed my bangs out of my eyes, leaning back to stare up at the sun. "This is nice." 

"Hmm. Very," Telca agreed as she pulled her own pair of sunglasses out of another portal. "What's the plan for this weekend?" 

"Besides lounging with the knowledge that we practically have the entire Palace to ourselves?" 

"Um hm." 

"We need groceries," I told her. "The campers cleaned us out." 

She sighed. "You know that means that we have to go into town." 

"I know we have to go to _a_ town," I grinned. "Portals are a useful thing, remember?" 

"How could I forget? But Kadrith and Tvac, Tash.... your Guardian will insist on coming with us." 

I shrugged and tossed my glass into a portal, putting my left hand behind my head and dangling my right into the water. "So?" 

She chuckled at my response. "They need to be exposed to true insanity anyway." 

::Hehehe:: 

I frowned and half sat up to look around. "Korin. I heard that!" 

Telca looked at me. "What?" 

"He's snickering." 

"Thou be screwed." 

"I am not--" I cut myself off with a shriek of surprise as the floater beneath me suddenly stopped floating. The reason? There was a nice large chewed through hole in it. I burst to the surface with a cry of outrage and looked around, spotting Kalamadea trying to smother his laughter while he basked on the edge of the pool, Telca laughing herself sick, and a familiar green form hovering above me. I growled and looked up at the dragon. "You're eating kibble for the next week. Telca, stop laughing!" 

"Why? This is damned funny!!" 

"Oh yeah?!" I slammed the palm of my right hand down onto the surface of the water.... 

"What's going on back--" 

"_SEA BLAST!!!_" 

The sound of an annoyed grumble caught my attention once the spell had run it's course, and I looked from a fuming soaking wet Telca.... to the two equally soaked Guardians. Trying to keep myself from breaking out into hysterical laughter, I grinned and waved at them, treading water with ease. "Hi." 

_BAMF!_ "BONZAI!!" 

"Ack!" I rose an arm to try to protect myself from the wave of water created by Nightcrawler's cannon ball into the pool and laughed when I saw that the three on the ground had gotten resoaked. I would have managed to keep myself under control had Kadrith not irritatedly shoved his bangs out of his eyes and glared at me, his expression reminding me all too much of a drowned rat. 

"She's lost it," Telca muttered as I howled with laughter, clinging to the opposite side of the pool to keep myself from drowning. 

"You only noticed that now?" Nightcrawler asked as he bamfed over to her and grabbed her arm. "C'mon in! The water's great!" 

"No! NO! Don't you dar--" _BAMF! SPLASH!!_ "I'll get you for this!!" Of course now that Telca was in the pool, I was in serious trouble. "C'mere you!" 

I stuck my tongue out at her and effortlessly swam backwards out of her reach, blinking when something tapped me on the shoulder. Curious, I tilted my head back and looked up into Tvashtar and Kadrith's toothy grins. "Crud." 

And thus world war three took place in the pool. I'd like to say that the males held their own, but Nightcrawler was just one teenager and Kadrith and Tvashtar simply couldn't equal the pure insanity that was Telca and I. I suppose that's why Zelgadis felt that he had to step in. Granted he could have done it in a kinder fashion. 

"_LY BRIEM!!_" 

The screeches that Telca and I loosed as the nice warm water turned arctic cold were probably heard in Japan. I hadn't known that I was capable of moving as quickly as I did to get out of that pool, grabbing Telca's towel and firmly wrapping it around myself as I stood there and shivered. 

Telca, however, was a different story. "_Zelgadis!!_ You'd better sleep with one eye open!!" She watched as he gave her the one finger salute before disappearing back into the Palace and turned her wrath on me. "That's _my_ towel!" 

I yelped as my source of warmth was ripped away from me and hugged myself. "That was evil. Remind me to sic Blackie on him when the Guys get back." I shivered, then yelped as leathery wings curled around me, making me look at Tvashtar in surprise. "What are you--?" A quick glance showed me that Kadrith was doing the same for Telca, granted she looked more shocked than I did. "Tvashtar...." 

"You're our Avatars. Your welfare comes first," he rumbled as he freed one arm from his wings and made a quick gesture in the air above me, the warm wind that washed over us drying us in seconds. 

I was so stunned that I pulled a Duncan. "You can do magick!" Stating the obvious is a gift that I never actually wanted to have. 

"Of course. How else do you expect us to protect our Avatars?" Tvashtar chuckled, looking at me playfully. 

"Uh, hello? Freezing fuzzy dude over here!" I blinked and looked over at a shivering Nightcrawler, watching as Telca fought her way free of Kadrith's wings and went over to drape her towel around the teen's shoulders. 

"Well, now that Zel ruined our fun...." I sighed and gently pulled away from Tvashtar, turning to head for the Palace. "Might as well go shopping." 

"Kewl! I'll go get changed!" _BAMF!_ I coughed as the wind shifted directions, sending the cloud of brimstone after me. 

"Shopping?" 

"We kinda have to if you expect to eat this weekend," Telca said to Kadrith as she followed me. "The campers cleaned us out." 

"We're going with you," Tvashtar announced as he easily caught up to me, frowning when he saw that I was still shivering. "You're still cold?" 

"Considering that I just experienced arctic cold water, hell yes I'm still cold. And we already know that you and Kadrith are coming with us. Nightcrawler, Zel and Beast might be coming to...." I trailed off and frowned. "And I should go find Malcho." 

Telca snickered. "Good luck." 

I threw a glare at her over my shoulder and opened a portal. "I'll meet you in the Main Hall in twenty minutes." That said, I hopped into the mystical doorway and used my bed as a springboard that sent me flying into the large closet. 

Ten minutes, three outfits and a fight with something at the far back of the closet later, I finally emerged comfortably dressed in black boots, blue jeans frayed at the knees and a light grey, white and blue army patterned tank top. I snatched a hair clip off the dresser on my way out of the room and yelped when I came face to chest with Tvashtar, the impact making me stumble backwards in surprise before I managed to catch myself. I didn't even blink when I saw that he hadn't even been phased by the run-in. "Gods, you're not attached to my hip, y'know. I can take care of myself." 

He actually looked embarrassed. "It's not that, M'lady. Telca.... 'suggested' that Kadrith and I find some clothes. Something about 'hentai'?" 

I rolled my eyes and gestured for him to follow me as I headed for one of the storage rooms in my wing of the Palace. I didn't really know how those rooms accumulated so much stuff, but I was rather sure that I was better off living in ignorance. Especially since the last time I had gone in there, I had seen the famous 'Titanic' diamond on a pedestal. "There's bound to be something in here," I told him as I opened the door and stepped into junk mayhem, hearing his gasp of shock as he followed me. 

"What...what is this place?" he whispered, staring at the numerous piles of books, racks of clothes, magazines, cds, and movies. I think I saw an old computer in the corner. 

"I have no clue. I think there's an errent portal in here or something. Stuff just...shows up. Hence the title 'the junk room'," I stepped over a pile of rolled up posters and made my way over to one of the racks of clothes. "Lesse... no. No. Ugh. Oh gods, the designer must have been on crack. No. Ah. Here." 

"Hmm?" He looked up seconds before the pair of faded black jeans and matching vest smacked into his face and I had to smother a chuckle when he pulled them off and sent an annoyed look in my direction. "Thanks... I think. You're sure these will fit?" 

"They should," I shrugged, frowning when I suddenly realized that the three dragons were being unusually quiet. They were shielding their thoughts. That wasn't good. The sound of cloth tearing made me look over at Tvashtar as he used a talon to slice a hole in the butt of the jeans, and I quirked an eyebrow as I watched him hop into the pants, his tail fitting through the hole he had just made. "You'd better hope that hole doesn't get any bigger." 

"It's not as if people will see anything," he shrugged as he glanced back at his wings and frowned in concentration. I merely stood there and gaped as he flexed his wings once before they seemingly shrank into his back until it was as if he had never had wings in the first place. 

"Wha?" 

Tvashtar took in my completely shocked expression and chuckled. "It's a natural ability. I can summon and banish my wings at will," he told me as he pulled the vest on. "You were right. This fits perfectly." 

I blinked, still dumbfounded. "Uh huh." Realizing that I was still staring at him, I shook myself and turned my attention to a pile of videos, paling when I saw what they were. "Remind me to hurt Xellos." 

"Why?" He followed my gaze and made a sort of strangling sound. 

I sighed and ushered him out of the room before his mind got any more damaged. "I'm just gonna go find Malcho and the littlings. I'll meet you downstairs in a bit, okay?" 

"I should go with you," he protested, obviously still unused to having me as his Avatar. He'd learn. 

"Don't worry. I can take care of myself. If you want to help me, you can track down the dragons, okay?" I swear he actually seemed relieved that I was asking him to do something. Gah, whoever had conditioned this guy deserved to be smacked in the head with something hard. Repeatedly. "I'll meet you in ten minutes," I told him as I opened a portal and leaped through, emerging in the middle of Malcho's room. I seriously didn't know how he managed to fit so many plants in one room... "Malcho? You here?" 

Getting no response, I sighed and went through another portal, walking out into the backyard and staring at the deck above me before I knelt and crawled into the space that lead to the closed off area directly beneath the deck. "Malcho? Amigo, if you're making me crawl in the dirt for nothing I don't know what I'll do to you." Indeed, my annoyance rose another notch when I discovered that he wasn't here. _Lovely. So where else would he go to hide?_

Crossing my fingers, I portaled myself to the attic, sneezing at the cloud of dust that got thrown into the air by my sudden arrival. I was still in the middle of a sneezing fit when a wing helpfully fanned fresh air in my direction. _Aha._ "Gah. Malcho, what are you _doing_ up here?!" 

"Hiding out," he sighed, looking at me worriedly. "Are you alright, mi amiga?" 

I coughed. "Yeah." I rose my gaze to meet his and blinked. "C'mere." It was more of an order than a request, but he obeyed just the same, a look of pure embarrassment in his eyes as he lowered his head close to me, letting me see the very visible bald spot/line that was just starting to regrow hair. "Lovely. Well, at least that explains Telca's babbling about a shaver." I reached up and hugged him as best I could, then pulled back to meet his now rather relaxed gaze. "We're going shopping. You wanna come?" 

He chuckled. "Mi amiga, you have a cruel sense of humour. Exactly how would I be able to go with you?" 

"Easy. I shrink you down again like I did when we hunted Wolvie down to that bar in Alberta, Canada. Remember? The cold?" He shuddered, and I grinned as I lightly patted him on the nose. "So?" 

"Gracias, muchacha, but I think I'll take advantage of the quiet afternoon and go bask outside for a bit," he smiled, ever the regal attitude. "It's safer when Telca isn't around to sneak up on me." 

"Good point. I'll try to send one of the littlings to warn you when we get back," I promised, reaching up to rub the curled fingers of my right hand over his left eyeridge before stepping back into the open portal. "See ya later then!" 

~*~ 

If I had known what insanity awaited me, I probably would have tried to catch up with the campers. As it was, I had emerged into a battle over who was going to drive, Telca, the newly licensed Nightcrawler or Zelgadis. Kadrith was trying to interrupt them to state that he had a licence while Tvashtar wisely stayed out of it and simply acted as a living perch for my three dragons. I sighed and walked over to my Guardian, eyeing the verbal combatants warily. "How long have they been doing this?" 

"Oh, about ten minutes," he chuckled as his brother threw his arms into the air in defeat and stalked over to us. 

"They're not even listening to me!" 

I grinned and let Kalamadea hop from Tvashtar's shoulder onto mine. "That's because you're not making enough noise. When people get like this, they'll only pay attention to whoever can yell the loudest or whoever's holding the better weapon." I took a moment to admire him in brown jeans and a sleeveless cream coloured tunic and decided that having these two around was a Good Thing. 

Kadrith looked at me warily for a moment before grinning and looking over at the fighting trio. "Tvashtar?" 

My Guardian actually smirked. "Ready." I watched as they both took large breaths, then yelped and clamped my hands over my ears as they loosed a loud duet of roars, the sound loud enough that the very walls shook. 

"Itai!! Warn those of us with Elven hearing next time, okay?!" I growled as I tried to shake the ringing out of my ears, dimly aware that Zelgadis wasn't much better off than I was. Oversensitive hearing could be a curse. 

However, they had managed to stop the bickering. Korin used the moment of shock to dart forward and snatch the keys out of Telca's hand before flying outside. I wasn't far behind. _Quick! Give me the keys!_

::Here,:: he chuckled as he landed on my left shoulder, the keys still dangling from his foreclaws. ::How mad is Telca going to be?:: 

"_Lashana!!!_" 

_Oh, about that mad._ I ran for the closest car, which just happened to be a Ford Expedition (where did all these cars come from anyway?!), and scrambled into the drivers seat. "Tvashtar!! Hurry up, man!" I shoved the keys into the ignition with one hand while pulling my seatbelt on with the other. Korin and Kalamadea had already taken vantage spots on the dashboard as they telepathically yelled at Akhor to hurry up. Was I going to leave Telca behind? I looked over at the other sorceress and saw her twitch. Yes. Yes I was. 

The moment Tvashtar threw himself into the front passenger seat, I turned the key, the engine roaring to life mere seconds later. I was dimly aware of Zelgadis scrambling into one of the back seats as I shifted into drive (gotta love automatics) and floored it, the tires screeching for purchase as the SUV surged forward. "Hold on!" I yelled as the car swung around a sharp corner, sending Zelgadis sprawling across the back seats before we hit the main road and settled into a calm 130km per hour. 

I looked over at the closest passenger and discovered that Tvashtar had sunk his talons into the dashboard, a wild 'what the hell was that' look in his eyes. "You should put your seatbelt on," I told him, trying not to chuckle when he slowly turned wide eyes on me. "What?" 

"Don't you think you're going a bit too fast?!" he yelped as he scrambled to tie himself, clutching at the strap of the seat belt afterwards as he stared out the windshield, watching the landscape fly by. 

"We're only going 130," I told him, glancing at the three dragons that were clinging tightly to the dashboard while watching the zooming scenery. They had been driving with me before, and I was pleased to discover that they were almost as 'speed happy' as I was. 

"Just be glad Telca isn't driving," Zelgadis said from the back seat. "She's more insane than Lashana." 

"I resent that," I muttered sourly, unconsciously doing a routine glance at the rear-view mirror as we drove down the road. I yelped seconds later when my mind fully took in what I had seen, and returned my gaze to the mirror, staring at the oncoming Ford 150 SuperCrew Kingranch truck, paling when I realized that Telca was in the drivers seat with a grinning Nightcrawler next to her. "Oh. My. Gods." 

"What?" Zelgadis frowned as he twisted to look behind us, a strangled cry of horror escaping him when he saw what I was seeing. "We're all gonna die." 

Tvashtar turned to see what we were staring at and yelped as Telca bumped us, trying to get me off the road. "M'lady! This is insane!" 

"That's the whole gist of it, yes." I swerved aside to give Telca room and glared at her when she moved forward so we were side by side. I glared at her some more and opened my window, seeing her gesture for Nightcrawler to do the same. "You're insane!" I screamed, sparing a glance at Kadrith and Beast who both seemed to be in the middle of a panic-attack. 

"You're the one who stole the keys!" 

"For good reason! I don't want to kill my Guardian!" 

"Oh yeah? I'm not the one who drives like an old lady!" 

"Hey! That means war!" 

"I accept the challenge!" she grinned, pointing down the road. "Whoever gets to the Interdimensional Mall first wins!" 

"You're on!" 

"Hold on to something!" Zelgadis shouted to Tvashtar as I floored it, using the full advantage of the 4 x 4 capabilities of the vehicle. 

I heard Tvashtar yelp as I plowed over a railing and proceeded to drive across old farmland, dimly aware that Telca was right on our bumper as I reached over and put the Spiderman Soundtrack CD into the player, jacking the volume way up. The three dragons had flown to the back of the car and were plastered against the rear window, making faces and rude gestures at Telca, eliciting an annoyed scream and a loud honk of the horn. 

Tvashtar turned to look at me as we sailed over a ditch, the apparently contagious insanity starting to infect him as he helpfully pointed out easier places to drive through, helping me navigate the maze of fences that once kept livestock encaged. Telca and I were turning that once smart idea into a moot point by simply driving through the fences, shattering them. I only hoped that there wasn't any barbed wire fencing around here, a flat tire would not be a good thing. 

"Wall!!" Zelgadis yelled, lunging forward so that he was between the two front seats as he pointed out the windshield at the stone wall in front of us. 

_That's too high for me to drive over...._ "Tvashtar! Hold the wheel!" Once he had a firm grip on the steering wheel to keep the SUV in control, I leaned out my open window and rose a hand. "_Source of all power, crimson fire burning bright! Gather to my hand and become my power! FIREBALL!!!_" 

"That's cheating!" Telca shouted as we monster trucked over the remains of the wall. I merely grinned and gave her the one finger salute. 

"Quick thinking," Tvashtar chuckled, seemingly adjusted to this new level of craziness he had become a part of. Zelgadis was lying limp on the back seat, hyperventilating. My Guardian took a moment to open his window before fidgeting in his seat, growling in annoyance. At my look of 'what the hell', he smirked. "The chair isn't tail friendly." 

"Oh. Right. I didn't think of that," I frowned, my attention divided between him and the ditch that was rapidly coming up. I spared a glance at the truck that was equal to us and stuck my tongue out at Telca before speeding up, hearing the engine roar in either annoyance or challenge. With my luck, the SUV had been in this dimension too long and was developing an intelligence of its own. _I've been watching too many Team Knight Rider reruns...._

::Mommy?:: I glanced back at Kalamadea at the call. 

_Yes?_

::Um....Telca's got this insane look in her eyes and I think Kadrith is screaming.:: I blinked and looked over at the truck. Sure enough, people were going insane over there. 

_Kewl. Hold on, littlings. We're going to finish this race once and for all._ Throwing caution to the winds, I slammed my foot all the way down on the gas pedal and kept it there, clutching at the steering wheel hard enough that my knuckles were turning white as I plowed through a guard rail and screeched onto a highway. I was dimly aware of Tvashtar and Zelgadis screaming in panic as we cut across five lanes of traffic before jumping a curb, flattening a stop sign and shoving a Buick aside before we roared into the Interdimensional Mall's parking lot. "We won! Hahaha!!" 

Telca drove up to us seconds later and came to a screaming stop. Literally. Nightcrawler, Beast and Kadrith just would not shut up. The three piled out of the truck and dropped to their knees, kissing the pavement and babbling something about 'blessed unmoving ground'. 

I chuckled and turned off the CD player as I cut the engine, sending an amused glance in Tvashtar's direction as he laughed at his brother. _Looks like I've finally brought him to the dark side._ "Zel?" I unbuckled myself and twisted around to look at him, chuckling when I saw that he was in a heap on the floor with Ahkor and Korin. "Zel, what are you doing to my littlings?" 

::Do we really want to know?:: Kalamadea asked as he flew over to me and took his usual perch on my right shoulder. 

"Hmm. Good point," I grinned as I hopped out of the suv, pocketing the keys as I slammed the door shut and looked over at Telca and gang. "What took you so long?" 

She growled. "Shaddup." 

_Ooh. Aren't we touchy today?_ "Fine fine." I opened the back door and pulled Zel out, pausing to gather Akhor and Korin into my arms before dumping the chimera onto the ground, leaving him there as I locked the door and closed it. "Shall we shop?" 

"Ladies, are you certain that these establishments will allow us access?" Beast frowned, looking at us curiously. "Kurt and I did not bring our image inducers, and your two Guardians, forgive me, are rather noticeable non-humans." 

"Chill, Beast. This is the Interdimensional Mall. All the dimensions intersect here, remember? You lot will probably be the most normal people there!" Telca smiled as she and I headed for the mall entrance, pointing at the spaceship that was parked nearby. "See? You'll be fine." 

I looked at the spaceship for a moment before leaning closer to Telca. "Isn't that the same ship from Men in Black? The one that the huge bug had?" 

She glanced from me to it. "Um....maybe?" At my look of slight panic, she glanced back at the five Guys and sighed. "Anyone here afraid of giant cockroaches?" 

"What?!" 

~*~ 

"Do we get the groceries first or last?" 

"Last," Telca told me. "That way the ice cream and the meats won't melt and go bad while we shop." 

"Point," I agreed, glancing at Tvashtar as he walked by my side, his gaze trying to take in everything around him. I reached out and gently touched his arm, drawing his attention. "Never been in a mall before?" 

"Our other Avatars didn't see fit to include us in much of anything," Kadrith answered for his brother from where he was walking next to Telca's other side. "And even then, nothing was like...._this._" He gestured to the shopping mayhem around us. 

"Geez, dude. That really sucks," Nightcrawler muttered, cheering up seconds later. "Good thing Lashana and Telca aren't like that!" 

I rolled my eyes, then turned my attention to the throng of people around us, eyeing an Alternate Universe version of Indiana Jones for a moment before seeing a music and video store nearby. "I'm heading there. Telca? Guys? You coming or shall we just meet back here in...oh...say, two hours?" 

"My place is by your side, M'lady," Tvashtar reminded me, forcing me to smother my original comment about that. "Besides, considering that I don't know my way around, it would be stupid of me to wander off." Okay. That was a good point. 

"We'll meet back here in two hours," Zelgadis said, sending a dismissive wave in our general direction as he headed for a nearby Second Cup coffee restaurant. I sighed and shook my head. Those employees had no clue what was in store for them. Oh well, it wasn't my problem. 

I turned my attention to my dragons. "You three have to stay with either me or Tvashtar at all times, okay?" I saw my Guardian startle in surprise at my words. "With all the different dimensions meeting here there's no telling what could happen to you." 

::Oh alright,:: Korin sighed, flexing his wings for a moment before flying out of my arms and going to land on a still shocked Tvashtar's right shoulder. ::What's with you?:: 

My Guardian blinked, then looked from Korin to me as Akhor crawled up my shirt to sit on my left shoulder, his tail joining Kalamadea's in curling around my neck. "Sorry. I suppose that I'm not used to this yet," he admitted. I sighed and met his gaze, recognizing the inner turmoil there as he tried to wrap his mind around the fact that I considered him and equal and a friend instead of just some servant. 

"I'll see you later then," Telca announced as she headed for a bookstore with a wary Kadrith in tow. "Nightcrawler, don't start bamfing everywhere. The smoke will set off the fire alarms." 

"That only happened once!" The teen protested as he followed her, leaving Beast to head for the nearest Radio Shack. I was now officially starting to wonder if this had been a good idea. Luckily that passed quickly, and I grinned as I grabbed Tvashtar's right arm and dragged him towards Music World. 

"M'lady?" I glared at him. "Uh, Lashana. What is this place?" 

"This is the best place to buy music," I told him as I pulled him into the store and over to one of the trial stands. "Here. Listen." I grabbed the headphones and shoved them onto his head before peering at the selections and choosing the new Remy Shand cd. I saw his eyes widen in surprise as he rose his hands to touch the headphones, and I chuckled as I upped the volume a little, watching him as he closed his eyes, his tail weaving in time to the music. _This boy has to get out more._ I ducked around him and headed for the new releases, hoping to find something of actual interest. _Oooh! New David Usher! And the new Our Lady Peace!!_

The cds firmly in my hands, (I would have left nail marks in the cases if anyone tried to take them away) I turned and looked over at Tvashtar, who was practically dancing to the music he was still listening to. _Korin? Don't let him embarrass himself._

::Aw. Where's the fun in that, Elfy?:: the green dragon chuckled from where he was still clinging to the Guardian's shoulder. ::Besides, I like this music.:: 

_I've listened to that cd dozens of times at home. You never liked it before._

::That's because I didn't like that singer. His voice is much better.:: 

_'His' voice? Tvashtar?_ I made my way through the crowd and snuck up behind my Guardian, my eyes widening when I heard him singing along to the lyrics. I blinked, realizing that, yes indeed, Tvashtar's voice was much better than Shand's and that I was currently making a total fool out of myself by standing there and staring at him like a slack-jawed yokel. 

Moving slowly so as not to startle him, I stepped around his swaying tail and lightly touched his left arm, seeing his eyes snap open in shock as he jerked away and fairly ripped the headphones off. 

"M'lady, forgive me! I didn't mean--!" 

I shook my head and cut him off by reaching up to lay a finger over his lips. "Shh." Now that I had him completely confused, I pulled my hand away and smiled at him. "That was beautiful, Tvashtar. You should never apologise for that." 

"You heard?" 

"Half the store heard," I smirked, gesturing to the crowd that was watching us and grinning when they took that as their cue to applause wildly. When it looked like he was going to either bolt or succeed in willing himself into the floor, I frowned and glanced at Kalamadea. "Kalama? Relay please." 

He grinned and nodded, his thoughts telepathically linking me to Tvashtar. I had discovered that he could do this little trick quite by accident. It certainly saved me from having to put up with Mewtwo's constant psychic training. ::Ready, Elfy.:: 

I nodded and looked at Tvashtar. _Can you hear me?_ He jerked slightly, then looked at me in shock. _I'll take that as a 'yes'. Tvashtar, I know this is a huge change for you. But you have to come to terms with the fact that you're not a slave anymore. Hell, I've half a mind to get Gaia and L-Sama to release you and Kadrith from this stupid obligation you have to serving Avatars, so that you'd be able to lead your own life._ I glanced at the still clapping crowd. _That's your applause right now, hun. Not for me, not for anyone else, just you. If this entire crowd can treat you like a free soul, why can't you treat yourself that way?_

Tvashtar stared at me for a long time before darting his gaze over to the crowd, a look of awe in his eyes as he watched them for a moment. "Thank you," he said, barely loud enough to be heard over the crowd. 

"In honour of our melodious guest, all Remy Shand cds are now an extra 30% off!" I blinked up at the P.A. system for the store, then grabbed Tvashtar's arm and forcibly yanked him out of the way of the now rabid mob before pulling him over to the cash. 

After I had charged the cds (the stolen Xavier Visa Gold Card, never leave home without it, hehe), I tugged my Guardian out of the store and over to a bench, forcing him to sit down as I met his gaze worriedly. "Tvashtar, are you okay?" 

Apparently noticing that lying wasn't going to go over very well with me, he sighed and slumped forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he stared at the floor. "Did you mean what you said?" 

"I've said a lot of things, be a tad more specific." 

"About freeing us....and....and my singing...." Aha. So that's what this was all about. I sighed and sat next to him, copying his complete lack of decent posture and reaching out to lightly stroke the back of his arched neck, following a hunch I had that this might help him relax. Hey, the hunch was right about Mewtwo. 

"I don't lie to my friends. Well....at least not over the important stuff." I smiled and lightly nudged him in the ribs, making him look at me. "I meant every word, Tvashtar. And, hell yes, you have an _amazing _voice. Even Korin liked it. Right Korin? Uh....Korin?" I straightened and looked around, panicked at the lack of green dragon. "Korin!?" 

"_EEEEEKK!!_" We both turned at the shriek in time to see a green torpedo shoot out of a Tim Horton's store, a chocolate donut firmly lodged in it's mouth. 

::Hey! You'd better plan on sharing that!:: Akhor growled as Korin landed on the back of the bench and started to demonstrate that yes, he had a bottomless pit for a stomach and no, he wasn't the sharing type. 

"There are days where I want to glue him to a wall," I muttered to Tvashtar, who actually chuckled. "That's better. Did you really think I'd say something like that and not mean it?" 

"I don't know anymore," he admitted, gazing over at a store but not really seeing it. "I've always wished that an Avatar would treat me like you do. Like an equal, not some animal. But now that things have changed.... I have no idea what I'm supposed to do." 

I sighed, not really knowing what to say to that, and merely leaned against him, slipping my arms around his middle to hug him as best I could in this awkward position. He tensed for a moment before laying a hand on one of my arms, his tail curling around my waist as he leaned against me. "You know what you need?" 

"What?" 

"A chocolate and strawberry sundae. With sprinkles." I grinned and leapt to my feet, feeling his tail tighten around me in reflex as I grabbed his hands and yanked him to his feet. "C'mon. You're getting a crash course in comfort foods." 

~*~ 

An hour later found us on our third sundae apiece. Hey, it was nutritious! Ice cream was milk, chocolate was....milk chocolate.....which was milk...., the strawberries and cherries were fruit, and the sprinkles were.... they didn't count. Anyway, I had apparently converted Tvashtar into the chocoholics group, because now he couldn't get enough of the stuff. I had also managed to get him hooked on cherry slushies. I have no idea how, but as long as I didn't have another contender for the morning coffee, I was happy. 

"What did you call this again?" 

I arched an eyebrow in my Guardians direction. "Which? The crushed oreos, the chocolate chips or the smarties? Ye Gods, is there even any ice cream under all that?" 

"There'd better be," he muttered, digging his spoon in a little deeper. "Yep. There is." 

::And you thought _we_ had bottomless pits for stomachs,:: Kalamadea sent to me as I leaned back in the chair and pushed the rest of my sundae in the trio's direction. 

"What? You're not finishing it?" I groaned and looked at Tvashtar, wondering what kind of a monster I had created. 

"If I eat anything else you're not gonna like what'll happen," I told him as I reached for my glass of Pepsi, idly watching the trio as they stuck their heads _into_ the bowl and polished off my sundae in record time. "Besides, they'll whine if they don't get any." 

::We do not _whine._:: Akhor informed me as he rose his head from the bowl and licked his muzzle clean. 

"You whine," I smirked. "Loudly." 

::We learned from the master,:: Kalamadea snickered, looking at me smugly. 

"What? You've actually been spending time with Telca?" Ah yes, evilness. You have to love it. A half-muffled burp made me glance at Tvashtar as he finally pushed his bowl away and leaned back, sighing contentedly. "Feel better? After all that chocolate you have to be feeling something." 

"I think I love this new job," he grinned as he grabbed his slushie and took a long drink, wincing afterwards. "What the?" 

I chuckled. "That would be what's usually called an 'ice cream headache'. You get it if you eat something super cold....or guzzle half a frozen slushie like you just did. It'll pass." I took a sip of my own drink and then looked over the rest of the food court, blinking when I saw Jabba the Hutt in line for Kentucky Fried Chicken. _I may never eat that stuff again...._

"What is it?" Tvashtar frowned when he saw the look of pure disgust on my face. He turned in his seat and stared over at Jabba as the....whatever he was....upended three buckets of fried chicken into his mouth. "That's sick. We don't need to see this, c'mon." 

I let him pull me to my feet as the three dragons retook their places on our shoulders, then paled when I saw Korin look in the direction of Jabba. _Oh lords no...._

::Hey ugly! There's a thing called Slim-fast!! You should buy a truckload of it!!:: 

I groaned and rose a hand to my forehead in an exasperated smack. "Why me?" A quick glance in the...whatever's direction showed me that yes, Jabba was capable of moving quickly and yes, he was headed straight for us. This required a plan. Unfortunately I wasn't much of a planner. "Run away!!" 

My Guardian yelped as I grabbed his arm and proceeded to drag him through the food court, vaulting over tables and people as I did so. "Wait! I dropped my slushie!" 

"Bugger the damn slushie! You'd rather the huge slug thing get us?!" 

"Uh. No." 

"Very good." I leapt over a stroller and landed on a table while Tvashtar lithely twisted in my hold to land on his feet on the floor next to said table. I ignored his showoffiness and looked in the direction of a lot of yelling and screaming, groaning when I saw Jabba literally ploughing his way through the food court, eating any food that happened to be in his reach at the time. "Yeesh." 

::Mommy! Up there!:: The trio only called me 'mommy' if they were tired, sick or very scared. Judging by the thing coming towards us I figured that it was the latter of the three. Following Kalamadea's gaze showed me that we were directly beneath one of the open spaces between mall levels. Thus a plan sputtered it's way into existence. 

Taking a good look at the floor above us, I closed my eyes and concentrated. _Portals don't fail me now!_ "Get in!" Not waiting for an answer, I chucked Tvashtar into the glowing doorway that appeared in front of me, then turned to give Jabba the one finger salute before leaping after my Guardian. 

::Close the portal! Close the portal!:: Ahkor screamed in my mind as I lay dazed on the tiled floor, stunned from my forehead's impact with concrete. I rolled onto my back and squinted at the portal, exerting a bit of magick before seeing it snap closed. 

"Korin, next time, keep your big mouth shut, okay?" 

::Yes mommy.:: 

"Gah." I lay back onto the floor and stared at the ceiling for a moment before an important fact clicked in my mind. "My CDs!!" 

Tvashtar had just managed to pick himself up off the floor when I lunged to my feet and ran to the railing, looking down at a still peeved Jabba and my bag of CDs that was lying on the floor close to him. The look of horror on my face must have been priceless, because there was a definite tone of panic in my Guardian's voice as he ran over to me. "M'lady, what's wrong?!" I whimpered and pointed down at the brightly coloured bag amidst the mayhem, hearing his low groan of despair moments later. 

::I'll get it!:: I jerked and tried to catch Kalamadea as he flew off my shoulder, hearing Tvashtar's yelp as he grabbed my belt, keeping me from throwing myself over the railing. 

"Kalamadea! Don't!" I yelled desperately, my heart leaping into my throat as the dragon swooped into the mess and reappeared holding the bag in his foreclaws. Unfortunately, the slug....er I mean....Jabba, was indeed faster than people gave him credit for. The moment I saw him reach for Kalamadea was when I felt something in me snap. 

"Lashana, what are you--" I cut Tvashtar off by shoving Korin and Akhor into his arms before I hopped up to stand on the railing, glaring down at Jabba murderously as Kalamadea whimpered and cried out for me, his wing twisting grotesquely as Jabba tightened his hold on him. At that moment, I don't truly know what I looked like or what expression I had on my face, but it was enough that Tvashtar gasped and grabbed my right wrist. "M'lady! You can't be thinking--" 

"No one hurts my family," I growled as I pulled on the Chaos, using just enough power so as to be able to boost my magicks, unaware that by doing so I had made my eyes turn gold. "Stay here. I'll be right back." And with that I pulled away and threw myself off the railing. An aura of power flared to life around me, the gold tinged with flecks of black as I wove my Raywing spell and flew at Jabba, a spell gathering in my right hand as I neared him. "Let. Him. Go!! _DIEM WIND!!_" 

The spell hit Jabba head on, and I quickly snatched Kalamadea out of the slug's hold as the wind attack sent him sprawling backwards, leaving him to crash into the A&W restaurant, the counter splintering under him. I looked from him to Kalamadea, humming softly to calm my littling as I wove a Healing spell on his wing, smiling when he crooned and rubbed his cheek against my throat. "Are you alright?" 

::Yes. I got the CDs.:: He sounded so proud and so smug that I couldn't help but laugh, cradling him close as I flew up to rejoin the others and then smirking at Tvashtar when he gaped at me. 

"What? You knew I was the Chaos Knight. Close your mouth, you're catching flies." I held out my arms and caught the other two dragons that flew at me, letting Akhor and Korin perch on my shoulders while I kept Kalamadea in my arms. 

"You've already learned how to tap into the Chaos?!" Tvashtar blurted, still staring at me. 

"Well yeah. I've even got the transformation keyed into a certain spell to speed up the change in case of emergencies. Why?" 

"How long have you had it? The Chaos?" 

I blinked, startled by all these questions. Granted if it was this important to him, I might as well answer him, right? "A little over a month." 

"That's it?!" When I merely blinked at him again, he shook himself out of his stunned trance and explained. "No other Avatars have managed to control the Chaos without guidance. Never mind use it so flawlessly!" 

"I wouldn't say 'flawlessly'," I muttered, cradling Kalamadea in the crook of my left arm while I rose my right, letting Tvashtar see the points of the spines that were partially emerged from my flesh. "I can't control these." 

He frowned and met my gaze as he walked forward and reached out to take my arm, peering at the spines for a moment before he pressed two talon-tipped fingers against either side of my arm, smiling at my yelp of surprise when the spines suddenly retracted. 

"How the flamin' hell did you do that?" I demanded, staring at my arm as the familiar black rune-like markings appeared over the spots where the spines had emerged from. 

"You have to learn how to control the muscles in your arms," he murmured as he ran a finger over the marks on my arm. "Then you can summon and banish the spines at will. The Chaos is a part of you now, remember? Both body and soul. Though you'll certainly be an easier pupil than the others. They couldn't even control their own Chaos heightened magicks." 

"Pupil?" 

He chuckled. "I'm your Guardian _and_ Teacher, remember? I can teach you how to use every aspect of the Chaos, M'lady..." he trailed off at the look I gave him, then smirked. "I mean, Lashana." 

"That's better. And if you're reacting like this to me, then Kadrith is gonna have kittens. Telca's got perfect control of her powers, she's even started writing her own spells to use in cadence with her Gaia powers." 

"You two....you're....amazing! Who _are _you people?! This is completely unheard of!" I leaned back against the railing and let him rant a bit more before I reached out and poked him in the ribs. 

"You're making a scene," I murmured. 

::Oh like you didn't when you flew down and pulverized tubbo?:: Korin snorted, ignoring the glare I sent him. 

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Fine." I grabbed Korin and shoved him into Tvashtar's arms. "You both can stay here and freak out over whatever. I'm going shopping!" That said, I turned on my heel and headed for my favourite clothes store, hoping that they'd still have some decent jeans in stock, my last three pairs had met an untimely death via Xellos and six cans of whipped cream (don't ask). 

Tvashtar managed to catch up to me fifteen minutes later as I exited one of the changing rooms and walked out in front of a mirror, turning this way and that to try to see if the midnight black jeans and shimmering sky-blue sleeveless blouse did anything for me. "I was wondering when you'd show up. What do you think? Decent or not?" 

I swear, if his eyes had widened any more they probably would have rolled right out of his head. "W-What?" 

"Your opinion of the outfit?" 

"It's not my place...." 

"It is now." 

He swallowed and backed up a step, glancing at Kalamadea and Akhor who were perched on the back of a chair and looking at me approvingly before gathering his courage. "You'd look better in the dark blue blouse." 

"That's what I thought," I nodded as I turned and grabbed the other blouse off a rack, heading into the changing room seconds later. "There's a section for males near the back of the store, go take a gander." _Korin?_

::Yeah?:: 

_Don't chew the clothes._

::How'd you--?!:: 

_I know you._ I thought, smirking when I 'felt' his annoyance. 

That whole conversation had taken less than ten seconds, hence the fact that Tvashtar was only now answering me : "M'lady, I couldn't impose like--" 

"Either you go willingly or I'll drag you over there once I finished getting changed," I chuckled as I put the first blouse back onto a hanger and pulled on the second one. When I emerged for the second time, I wasn't very surprised to see him still there. _I swear, he's going to make me develop a twitch._ "You're a stubborn, stubborn male, you know that? C'mon." 

~*~ 

"Holy shit! What'd you do, buy out a store?!" Telca cried when we reached the scheduled meeting place half an hour later. 

"Three actually," I grinned as I set my bags down and rose a hand to brush my bangs out of my eyes, looking at the bag laden Kadrith afterwards. "'Sides, you look like you did the same." 

"Cotton Ginny had a sale." 

"They did?! Aw dammit! Where's the store? I still have a few minutes before the others get here!" 

"Ack! No!" Tvashtar yelped. "We have enough stuff!" 

"But it's Cotton Ginnyyyyy!" I whined. Whining is an art. You have to hit just the right pitch so that people will do just about anything to get you to shut up. Telca and I were masters of it, so naturally, Tvashtar didn't have a chance. He caved. Very quickly. "Kewl! I'll be right back!" 

Tvashtar looked over at Kadrith as I bolted for the store and smirked. "Is your Avatar as nuts as mine?" 

"Hey! I resent the implications of that!" Telca growled, blinking when I leapt out of a portal seconds later, laden down with three more bags. "Well. That was quick." 

"I just got one of everything," I grinned. "Shall we go dump this stuff in the cars before the others get here?" 

"Might as well, I'm not lugging this stuff around longer than I have to," she grumbled as she picked up three bags and lugged them towards the doors. I snickered and took hold of my previously set down bags and effortlessly ran after Telca. 

"S'a shame you're not Elven!" I said sweetly. "The extra boost in strength makes this really easy!" 

"Really? Then you wouldn't mind carrying these!" And thus I learned never to brag about _anything_ around Telca. Because now I was carrying nine bags and _now _I was feeling it. 

"I hate you." I growled. 

She chuckled evilly and rose her right hand, rubbing the pads of her thumb and index finger together. "Here's the world's smallest violin playing the world's saddest song just for you." She rose her left hand as well. "In stereo." 

I snarled, the sound making Kadrith move so that he was between me and Telca. I glared at him while Telca looked around him and made faces at me while we crossed the parking lot. Grumbling various opinions of her under my breath, I stalked over to my car and somehow managed to juggle the bags while getting out the keys and unlocking the trunk, dropping my bags into it before flinging Telca's bags over in her general direction. 

"Hey! Watch it! There's DVD's in there!" Telca cried as she ran forward and caught her stuff. I merely gritted my teeth and tried to resist the urge to Dragon Slave something. 

A low rumble made me glance over at Tvashtar and I sighed when I saw the concern in his eyes. "M'fine." I muttered as he placed his load of bags into the trunk, then stepped back while I slammed it shut. 

"Liar." 

"Well, yes." I felt Kalamadea nuzzle my cheek lightly while Akhor crooned in my ear and sighed again. _I'm alright, littlings. Honest._

"C'mon," Tvashtar murmured as he draped an arm around my shoulders and guided me back to the mall. "You didn't tell me you had a temper." 

"You didn't ask," I shrugged, looking over at Telca and Kadrith as they rejoined us. Loud screams drew my attention back to the doors of the mall, and I blinked at the sight of numerous Second Cup employees bolting from the building. "Okaaay. That was new." 

"I think your chimera's gone nuts," Telca commented once we were back inside and staring at Zelgadis as he swung from a potted tree while holding a large cup of what seemed to be espresso. 

"Oh lords...." I whispered when he saw me and literally bound over to me. 

"HiLashanawhereveyoubeenyourelatewheresNightcrawlerandBeastandyoureallyshouldtrythisitsreallygood!" 

I exchanged panicked looks with Telca, then shrank back until I was practically cowering in Tvashtar's arms. "Oh dear Gods, he's _hyper!_" I cried as Zel held his cup out to me, his hand shaking so hard that most of the drink ended up on the floor. Here was an overcaffeinated chimera, the most dangerous of all beings. And we weren't prepared to handle him. What was worse was that we were in a public place, so we also had to worry about outside catalysts that could set him off. 

"I think you've had enough," Tvashtar muttered as he reached out to take the mug away from Zelgadis, recoiling in shock when Zel hissed and tried to bite his hand. 

::Has he had his rabies shots lately?:: Korin asked from his perch on Tvashtar's left shoulder. 

::No clue. But I'm still not going near him.:: Akhor muttered. 

"This calls for dirty underhanded measures," Telca whispered to me. I nodded in agreement. "Good. Let's set him loose on a Starbucks and make a run for it." 

"_That's_ your plan?!" 

"It's a good plan." 

Kadrith, who of course had been listening in, shrugged and looked at us. "A problem shared is a problem halved." Naturally he had yet to learn that saying things like that around Telca was inviting brand new problems all on it's own. 

"'A problem shared is a problem halved'? Who told you something that ridiculous? A problem shared is just inviting the problem to get worse!" 

"Then why are we sharing?!" I protested, gesturing to Zel as he tried to lick the inside of his mug to get the last drops of coffee. "We have to trank him or something!" 

She grumbled for a moment before looking from Zel to me. "You got one of those baseball bats of yours?" 

When I nodded and pulled one out of a portal, she grinned and snatched it out of my hands. "Observe." 

I blinked and watched her run at Zel, bat held high. Too late I realized her intention. "NO! That's my favourite bat!!" 

_WHAM! WHAM! **WHAM!!!**_

"There!" Telca smiled, the heavily dented bat dropping to the floor as she let go of it. "Problem solved." 

::He's going to have one hell of a headache when he wakes up,:: Kalamadea noted as we all looked down at the unconscious and twitching chimera. 

::Um...Elfy?:: I glanced towards Korin at the call and frowned at the look of panic in Tvashtar's eyes. 

_Oh frak...._ "Telca! We'll meet you at the grocery store!" I called as I grabbed my Guardians arm and dragged him towards the store, blinking when he pulled free and walked ahead of me. "Tvashtar, listen to me. We're not going to hurt you. Okay? Tvashtar?" When he shivered and nodded, I sighed and hesitantly reached out to bring him to a halt, meeting his gaze when he looked at me. "That other Avatar hurt you bad, didn't she?" 

"'Bad' doesn't even begin to describe it," he whispered raggedly. "I was in her service for fifty years.... I know you and Telca would never hurt me, but sometimes.... even if I know you wouldn't.... sometimes I just can't control the fear...." 

I half felt like trying to take on another psychic link so I could help him. If it wasn't for the knowledge that it could adversely affect my littlings, I probably would have. But instead, I merely laced my right arm through his left and gently tugged him towards a nearby snack stand. "Next time, instead of nearly having a panic attack, tell me. Okay?" When he nodded, I smiled and placed a five dollar bill into his hand. "Go get yourself a slushie." 

Ah, the miracle slushie. I swear, I didn't think he was capable of doing such a rapid mood swing. He also damn near knocked me over while he bolted for the indoor canteen. I smiled and leaned against a huge potted tree, folding my arms over my chest as I watched him. _Well....I think I have my work cut out for me..._

::Looks like it. Though he's certainly better than he was when he first arrived at the Palace,:: Kalamadea murmured as he shifted so that he could lie down, curling his body around the back of my neck. 

_True. Though I really would have gone to kill that bitch if she was still alive._

::We know,:: Akhor rumbled softly as he gently nuzzled at my left cheek. ::He's like your brother, you know.:: 

I grimaced. _I don't have a brother._

::Not like that,:: Kalamadea chuckled. ::You treat him like family. Since you're already involved with Blackie, then Tvashtar is like your brother. You two get along very well, but in a different manner than you and your Bonded.:: 

_When did you get so smart?_

::I've been hanging out with Daddy a lot.:: 

_Wise cracking lizard...._

"Sip?" 

I jerked slightly, raising my gaze from the floor to look at Tvashtar. "What?" 

"I asked if you wanted a sip," he repeated, holding out the large cherry slushie. "Are you alright?" 

"Huh? Oh. Yeah," I made a dismissive gesture. "Sorry. I was telepathically talking to the littlings. It's distracting." I smiled and reached out to take the glass, taking a quick drink before handing it back to him. "Gods that's good. Okay, c'mon. Nightcrawler and Beast must have met up with Telca by now. We'd better head to the grocery store." 

He nodded and followed me, walking by my side. "Thank you, by the way. For helping. And for the slushie. You want the change back?" 

"Nah. Keep it," I smiled. "And you're welcome." I stepped through the automatic doors and grabbed a cart, blinking when he gently elbowed me aside and took it from me. "Hey...." 

"I'll follow you. There's no point in you pushing this thing, I have no idea where to head for, I'd only get in the way." Okay. So he had a point. But it was rare that I let any of the other males do this. Why? Simple, they excelled in sneaking off to go fill the cart with junk food. Once, Telca and I had caught Wolvie trying to buy thirteen bags of pork rinds. Pork rinds! I couldn't even pronounce half the chemical ingredients in those things! 

"Well, thanks then. But we gotta wait for Telca and the others." I guided him over to a display of cola 24 packs and leaned back against the side of the cart as I opened a flyer I had snatched out of someone else's cart, looking through it curiously. _Hmm.... the cases of cherry Pepsi are on sale. Good, 'Two will love me forever...._

"Ahem." 

I blinked and looked towards the voice, staring at Beast as he pushed a cart containing the still unconscious chimera over to us. "I don't want to know. Where's Telca and Kadrith?" 

"Here," Telca called, waving a flyer to get my attention as she and her Guardian joined us, pushing another cart. "Has anyone seen Fuzzy?" 

_BAMF!!_ "Sorry, dudes. Got distracted by the arcade." 

I coughed and waved my hand in front of my face, trying to clear the air of brimstone smoke. "S'okay...." Once I had recovered enough to remember how to breathe properly, I glanced at Telca and quirked an eyebrow at her. "Shall we shop?" 

"Just a minute. I need a drink." I sighed and leaned against Tvashtar, hearing his low chuckle as we watched Telca head for the vending machine. Everything seemed fine. She dug change out of her pocket, put it into the machine, pressed a button.... and that's where things started going downhill. "It _ate_ my money!" 

"Uh oh," I murmured, glancing at Tvashtar. "Look away. This is going to be bad." 

He blinked at me for a moment before hesitantly raising his gaze to look over at Telca, who was now hitting and kicking the vending machine while cussing up a blue streak. I hadn't been aware that vending machines were _capable_ of doing that with a dead fish and a laser printer.... 

And then a weapon was added to the mix. 

"Oh my stars and garters!" Beast cried as Nightcrawler dove behind a display, peeking around it to look at Telca as she pulled her axe out of a portal and advanced on the machine. 

"What say you?" she growled, glaring at the vending machine rather murderously. "Will you yield, and this avoid? Or, guilty in defence, be thus destroyed?" 

"She _does_ know that's it's not going to answer her, right?" Tvashtar whispered to me as she continued to glare at the machine. 

"I don't think we should go into that right now," I muttered as Telca loosed a screech of anger and leapt at the machine, the dust cloud that formed blocking most of the attack from view. Though we did manage to catch glimpses of an axe, a crowbar, a fireball and a rubber chicken before the vending machine tumbled out of the cloud and crashed down onto it's side, a single can of Sprite rolling out of the dispenser tray. 

Now cheerful and thankfully unarmed, Telca went over to pick up her drink, smiling happily as she proclaimed : "O' Lord, thy arm was here this day." 

::Mommy? Is she on medication or something?:: Korin asked. 

_Not that I know of._

::Maybe she should be,:: Akhor whimpered as he shrunk back into the curtain of my hair, hiding himself in it. 

"Okaaaaay. That was the strangest thing I've ever seen," Tvashtar announced, his eyes a tad wider than they were before. 

Kadrith shot me a pleading look. "She's not always like that....right?!" 

"You should see her when someone steals her chocolate," Nightcrawler whispered. "It's downright frightening." 

I shrugged. "She has her moments." 

"Oh like you're one to talk," Telca growled, looking at me pointedly. "Need I state the early morning fights you have with Rock-boy here for a cup of measly coffee as reference?" 

"It's not measly! It's the first cup out of a fresh pot! It's the best!" I protested, not caring that I had just incriminated myself. Knowing that the triumphant smirk on Telca's face would eventually end up with me trying to strangle her, I growled and grabbed Tvashtar's arm, dragging him towards the fresh produce. 

"Y'know, I'm really starting to wonder why we don't go to a normal store," Nightcrawler muttered as he neared a display and watched something that resembled a purple celery stalk try to strangle a neon green carrot. I pulled him away before the red and turquoise artichoke smacked him. 

"Because this is closer to home, that's why," I informed him as I went to get a ten pound bag of Macintosh apples and another of Red Delicious. I wasn't touching the Granny Smiths. Last time Wolvie had gotten the wrong bag and a horde of three inch tall grandmothers had tried to take over the Palace. I wasn't going to go through _that_ again in my lifetime. 

"Hey! It's free sample day!" Telca called from where she was directing Kadrith on which twenty pound bag of potatoes to get, waving to get my attention then pointing to a small group of people surrounding an indoor grill. 

_Mmm....free food. Ack!_ I reached out and grabbed Akhor out of the air, tucking him under my left arm. "Oh no you don't! I remember last time's fiasco!" 

"Fiasco?" Tvashtar frowned as he handed me his slushie and took the two bags of apples from me. 

"Yeah," I murmured, taking a sip of his drink. "Akhor got loose in the store and ate a ten pound block of cheese. We found him throwing up in some guy's cart." 

"Lovely. Hey, give that back!" I chuckled and let him take his slushie back before going to pick out a few tomatoes and a 'normal' piece of celery. 

"What do you two eat anyway? Anything I should avoid or what?" 

"Nah. We'll eat anything...." he trailed off and eyed something that resembled a blue watermelon that was actually eyeing him back. "....within limits." 

"Ditto," I muttered as we moved away from the produce that was looking at us as if we were the main course. "If anything in this store touches me, there will be many fireballs involved in my reaction." 

He smirked. "Thanks for the warning." 

I shrugged and headed for the closest sample table, ducking around a version of Connor Macleod, taking one look at what was being served, then clamping my right hand over my mouth and slowly backing away. 

"What? Lashana?" Tvashtar lay a hand on my left arm and looked at me worriedly. 

::Give her a minute,:: Kalamadea said woozily, obviously not liking what we had just witnessed either. Hell, even Akhor seemed a little green. 

::What was it?:: Korin asked curiously, climbing up onto the top of Tvashtar's head and then perching on his horns, trying to see over the gang of people. ::Ew.:: 

"I could have lived my life without having seen how haggis was made," I whispered, still unsure if my mind and stomach could handle what I had seen. 

"Oh, _gross_, dude! What _is _that?!" Nightcrawler yelled in disgust. 

"It's haggis, of course!" Connor said happily. "Doesn't it smell _great?!_" 

_I will not hurl, I will not hurl, I will not hurl...._ "Can we get upwind of that, please?" 

Tvashtar took one look at me and practically carried me into the frozen food isle, well away from the display. "What's haggis?" 

I grimaced. "Sheeps heart and liver stuffed into a sheep's stomach and boiled for three hours." And thus I learned that despite his black colouring, he could indeed manage to turn green. "Exactly. Gah. The smell alone is enough to--" 

"Stop! Please." he groaned, raising his slushie cup and resting the cold side of it against his forehead, unknowingly letting Korin take a drink of the stuff. "That's disgusting." 

"You didn't _see_ it!" 

"I'm glad I didn-- Hey! Why you little--! You drank all of my slushie!!" 

::Hehehe.:: 

_This is going to be a long grocery run. _I sent to Kalamadea, who whimpered and burrowed into my hair. 

"Elfy? Where are ya?!" I blinked at the loud scream and turned to look towards the end of the isle as Telca, now in control of her cart, careened into sight. "Oh! There you are! Did you get the frozen pizza yet?" 

"Just got here. Recovering from sight of fresh haggis." 

"Ew." 

"You don't know the half of it," I grimaced, glancing around for a moment before frowning. "Um...where's Kadrith?" 

She blinked. "He's not with you?" 

"You _lost_ my brother?!" 

I reached out and lay a hand on Tvashtar's arm, squeezing gently in a silent attempt to reassure him. "It's not like we won't find him. It's not that big of a store. Besides, I think Nightcrawler's with him, they'll be fine." I met his gaze as he looked at me and smiled. "I think your brother can take care of himself." 

He frowned for a moment, then nodded. "You're right." 

"Wow. Bring out the parade," Telca chuckled, grinning at the glare I sent her. "What? It's rare that you're ever right. Even less that someone admits it." 

I growled and threw Tvashtar's empty slushie cup at her, grumbling when she merely ducked. "Like you're any better. Banshee." I smirked at the glare she sent me in return and headed down the frozen food isle, dimly aware that a chuckling Tvashtar was right behind me. 

::Elfy?:: 

_Hai Korin?_ I glanced at the dragon that was still perched on the top of Tvashtar's head. _What's up?_

::Um....where's Akhor?:: 

I froze, hearing Tvashtar's yelp as he frantically tried to avoid running me over with the cart. But I was too busy looking around for the now missing dragon to worry about a trivial thing like that. "Akhor? Dammit all to hell, when I get my hands on that little bastard I'm gonna tie his tail to the cart!" 

"Lost a dragon again?" Telca asked as she joined us, her cart parallel to Tvashtar's. "Where'd he go this time?" 

"I have no idea! Dammit, Korin, go find him." 

::You sure that's such a good idea?:: Kalamadea murmured as his younger draconic brother took flight and soared towards the high ceiling of the store. ::You know he'll cause no end of trouble.:: 

"At this point in time I don't really care what he does as long as he finds Akhor," I sighed, morosely watching as Telca grabbed six Delissio pizzas and tossed them into her cart. "Well, I suppose there's not much else I can do, is there?" 

"Not unless you want to rampage through the store," the other sorceress told me distractedly as she added three cartons of ice cream into the cart and a box of Popsicles. "Sides, like ya said, it isn't that big of a store. And it's not like they don't know where to find you if they get lost." 

I sighed and leaned against a silent Tvashtar, relaxing when he shifted his stance to be able to support me with little effort. "Alright. Let's shop." 

"Good. And don't you forget to get the fixings for those chocolate chip cookies of yours." 

"I wasn't aware you wanted me to bake something," I frowned, glancing at Telca curiously. 

"You still owe me a batch from when your three terrors destroyed the one I baked." 

"Oh. That. Hai, hai, I remember," I sighed, pushing away from Tvashtar and blinking when he reached out to grab my arm, keeping me close. His gaze was unreadable when I twisted to look at him, and I gently reached out and poked him in the ribs. "What's the matter?" 

He shifted his weight from foot to foot, tail twitching slightly as he met and held my gaze for a moment before releasing me. ".....can I get something?" 

I think Telca summed up what I was thinking rather nicely : "That bitch Avatar should be glad she's dead. At this point even I want to smack her around." She sighed and looked at my Guardian. "Yes, for Goddess' sake, if you want something, just take it. We're buying for the whole Palace, that includes you!" 

He winced, ears flattening against his skull. "Right. Sorr--" 

I cut him off by lying a hand on his right arm, shaking my head slightly. "Don't apologize when you haven't done anything wrong. Grab whatever you want, okay? I'm gonna follow Telca down this isle." Not waiting for a response, I stepped around him and grabbed the handle for the cart, quickly heading after a grumbling Telca. "What?" 

"Are they supposed to be helping us or are we supposed to be helping them?" she asked, glancing back at Tvashtar before meeting my gaze. 

"I don't know. L-Sama said that we were their salvation just as they were ours. Maybe we're supposed to be gathering good karma points." 

"Maybe," she agreed, coming to a stop and folding her arms on the handle of the cart, staring into the cart at a frozen pizza. "Still.... I don't know. Were all the other Avatars real psychos... or did their new Powers make them that way?" 

I shrugged. "Don't know. But if we take our Guardian's reactions into consideration, I think we're rather unique Avatars. They seemed to be expecting us to be total tyrants or something...." 

"We didn't know any better. Or... at least... I didn't." Telca and I blinked and turned to look at a solemn Tvashtar as he walked over to us and set a 2 litre of smarties ice cream into the cart. At my look of horror - I really hadn't wanted him to overhear that conversation - he gave me a small smile and twitched an ear. "I have good hearing. Here, let me take the cart." 

I shook my head and tightened my hold until my knuckles were white. "Tell us.... were the others.... Did their new Powers make them that way?" I felt Kalamadea lightly nuzzle my cheek, trying to calm me as a wary fear started to work it's cold way up to my heart. _Gods, if I change into that...._

"If they did, then it happened the moment they became Avatars, because I usually managed to track them down a day or two after they had melded with the Power," Tvashtar said, looking at us curiously when we both heaved identical sighs of relief. "Is that what you were afraid of? That the Powers would turn you into.... into what the other Chaos Avatar was?" 

"It crossed our minds," Telca admitted sheepishly. "It just kinda snapped into focus a lot more since you and your brother dropped in on us. I mean, I know that Kadrith wasn't.... didn't get the short end of the stick like you did, but...." She trailed off and shrugged, making a vague gesture in the air, as if the rest of the sentence had evaded her. 

Tvashtar looked back and forth between the two of us for a moment before smiling and gently bumping me aside so he could get a grip on the handle. "I don't think you have anything to worry about. Kadrith can sense the Gaia Power, just as I can sense the Chaos. Unlike the other Avatars we've met, you two are the only ones who have managed to become one with those Powers so.... harmoniously. And here I was thinking that Gaia and L-Sama had made a big mistake." 

"Hey!" 

"No! No, not like that," he chuckled, at ease for the first time despite the fact that both Telca and I were glaring at him. "I thought they had pulled a joke on us by telling us that you were Avatars. All the others were.... not corrupted by the Power.... more like drugged by it. You two, your lives haven't changed at all, have they?" 

"Why would they?" Telca frowned. "So we're Avatars. Big deal." 

"That's exactly it, isn't it?" I mused, looking at Tvashtar. "The others let it go to their heads. Thought that since they were Avatars that they were better than everyone else." 

"Bah. So we've got new Powers, I'm not about to go completely loony and try to take over the world. Granted, now that I think of it, that 'Lady Telca' had a nice ring to it." 

I snorted. "Lady Loud more like it," I teased, dancing out of range of her smack and ducking behind Tvashtar. "Besides, where's the fun in taking over the world. Think of all the _work!_" 

"Keeping all the lowly peons in line would be ever so draining," Telca grinned. "And they'd probably expect us to make a government and all that crud." 

"Just the politics alone would kill us," I chuckled. Seeing Tvashtar's wary look only made me laugh harder. "Hun, chill. We're joking." I patted his hand reassuringly and headed down the isle. "C'mon already. Daylight's wasting and I want to get home in time for that Sci-Fi Movie Marathon on TV!" 

"With the way you drive it'll be a miracle if you get home at all," Telca snickered. 

"_I heard that!_" 

_BAMF!_ "Mein Gott!! Hide me! _Hide me!_" 

I blinked and looked back over my shoulder at Nightcrawler as he threw himself at Telca, shoving a package of gourmet hamburgers into her hands before he dived into the cart Tvashtar was pushing, trying to hide under the frozen pizzas. _I don't want to know, do I?_

::Probably not,:: Kalamadea yawned from where he was curled around the back of my neck, his head comfortably pillowed in my hair as he half-dozed. ::Don't forget the spiral fries.:: 

Rolling my eyes, I opened another freezer door and grabbed two Value Sized bag of curly fries, pausing as a loud roar followed by Nightcrawler's muffled whimper caught my attention. Exchanging quick glances with Telca told me that she didn't know what was going on either, so I kicked the door closed and set both frozen bags right on top of the teen huddled in the cart, smirking when he yelped and leapt into sight. 

"Gah! That's _cold!_" He glared at me a moment, then nervously glanced down the isle. "I think I'll go find Beast and Kadrith!" _BAMF!_

Telca coughed and waved brimstone smoke out of the air in front of her. "Methinks he somehow just dumped a problem on us." 

"Forget 'dump'! He _led_ one right to us!" Tvashtar growled as he pointed down the isle. 

"What fine hell awaits me now?" I mused as I turned to follow my Guardian's pointing finger, paling when I saw what was coming towards us. Ever see those 'Predator' movies? Well 'Predator 2' was making a guest appearance in our isle. And my, oh my, he looked ticked. "Sweet Holy Mother of the Gods.... _RUN!_" 

"What? Why? ACK!" Telca's questions got cut off as I forcibly shoved her down the isle, her screech of anger alerting me to the fact that I had put too much strength behind that push and had accidentally thrown her head first _into_ the cart. 

I meanwhile was busy trying to get Tvashtar to realize that if he actually tried to fight the alien that I would be short one Guardian. I was fairly sure that I was getting through to him until he shouldered me aside and held his right hand out to his side, black and gold fire swirling at his fingertips for a moment before solidifying into his double bladed weapon. "Baka!! Don't _ever_ pull a weapon on one these guys!" 

He blinked and looked at me, not paying attention to the fact that I was pulling him backwards while the Pred kept stalking towards us. "Why not?" 

I hissed. "Because his kind _hunts_ other beings for challenges and then takes their skulls as a trophy! He's a living breathing Hunter!" 

"I've faced worse." 

That didn't help my current mindset one damned bit. Hence the fact that I was now completely ignoring the Pred and glaring at Tvashtar. "Baka! BAKA!!! _BAAAAKKKAAAAA!!!!_" 

Now that I had half-deafened and considerably cowered my Guardian - incidentally also making him send his weapon back to wherever it had come from - I bodily turned him around, made him grab the cart and shoved him down the isle. "Kalamadea! Relay to the Pred!" 

::_What?!_:: 

_Do. It._ I spun around on my heel and _glared_ at the Pred as he came to a stop directly in front of me. A part of my mind yelped at the fact that here I was, a 5 foot 6 Elf, facing off against a three meter tall alien built like a mack truck. Luckily I hardly ever listened to that part of my mind. 

Kalamadea shifted over my shoulders, talons lightly pricking my skin. ::It's done.:: 

I smirked and rose my gaze to glare at the Pred. _Go. Away._

I think my dragon nearly choked in shock as I turned and casually walked away. ::That's it?!:: 

_Well what did you want me to do? I'm not in the mood to get into an all out battle with him in the middle of the frozen food isle. Besides...._ I paused and chuckled. _It'd be too easy._

And thus I learned that Kalamadea hadn't yet stopped relaying my thoughts to the Pred. Hence the fact that the Hunter had grabbed my shoulder and bodily spun me around to glare down at me in undisguised insulted rage. 

I glared at my dragon. "No more chocolate bars for you for a month." 

::Awww.....:: 

The sound of metal scraping against metal made me blink for a moment before I yelped and ducked the wrist blades that came at my head. _Can't you take a joke?!_ I danced aside, wondering how something that big could be so damned _fast_. Okay, I had seen and memorized the movies, I knew what the Pred was capable of, what weapons he had, and since I didn't feel like pulling Arnold-whateverthehellhislastnameis out of a portal, I had to improvise. 

I hopped backwards a little bit and smirked as the Hunter leapt right at me. "Ah, males. So strong, yet so dumb_._" Just as he was seconds away from slamming into me, I reached out and opened one of the Plexiglas freezer doors, closing my eyes in a grimace as the door shook violently. 

I let a few moments pass before I cracked an eye open cautiously, then smirked and looked at the Pred that was now smooshed against the door like a proverbial bug on a windshield. "No wonder Danny Glover beat you. Yeesh." I closed the door, eyeing the Pred that was still seemingly attached to it and shrugged as I headed after Tvashtar and Telca, whistling happily. 

Kalamadea crawled out of my hair and perched on the top of my head, looking back at the Pred. ::Elfy, you're insane.:: 

"You say that like it's a bad thing." 

"_Lashana!!_ Where do you get off throwing me into a cart?!" Telca yelled when she saw me, stalking forward to glare at me face to face. _I was better off with the Pred...._

"Lady Telca, please. You're making a scene," Tvashtar whispered as he tried to push Telca away from me, his right hand tightening on his weapon when she turned her glare onto him. He'll never learn. 

"A scene? A _scene?!_" 

_Oy...._ "Telca! Come off it already! The Pred was after Nightcrawler, so technically, you _owe _me!" I was never going to learn either. 

"_What?!_ I owe you nothing!" 

::This isn't going to get us away from the Predator that's peeling himself off the glass!:: Kalamadea broadcasted to the three of us. 

Telca blinked. "Peeling himself off the what?" She stepped around me and looked down the isle, a smirk spreading over her lips before she pointed at the alien and started laughing. "Mr. Big Bad Hunter of the universe got beaten by a door!!" 

So now Tvashtar was left with an insanely cackling Avatar, me as I banged my head against a shelf in mindless exasperation, a dragon that had relocated itself to his head, and a rather annoyed Predator that was once again coming after us. 

I thought he summed things up rather nicely : 

"I need a vacation." 

"You an me both pal," I sighed, leaning against the shelf for a moment longer. _Kalamadea, are you still relaying?_

::Um....no?:: He looked at me sheepishly, saw the glare I was sending him, then sighed and nodded. 

_Why you little...._ I pushed myself away from the shelf and started to ready a fireball, blinking when a green torpedo shot into view, circling the Pred a few dozen times before flying over to hover in front of me. 

::Elfy! Elfy! Guess what I found! There's this bin and it's filled with different candies and they're _soooo_ good and there's _soooo _many good ones andyoujusthavetocomeseethis!!!:: 

Telca blinked, having heard the hyper dialogue. Hell, even the Pred seemed to have heard it, because he had stopped stalking towards us and was now eyeing the dragon warily. "Er....how many of those did he eat, exactly?" she whispered to me, looking at the dragon like looks at a screaming child they don't want to go near. 

"Too many," I muttered as I watched Korin do multiple ariel summersaults around me, still telepathically babbling out how good all those candies were. _Oh Gods I have a headache...._ "Korin.... Korin! _KORIN!!_" I growled and watched him a moment longer before literally snatching him out of the air. "How many did you eat?!" 

::IdunnomaybethirtyorfiftybuttheyweresogoodcanigohavesomemorehuhcanIcanIcanIcanIcanI??:: 

I blinked, then turned around and thrust the wriggling dragon at Tvashtar. "Take him." 

::Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I?:: 

My Guardian shook his head and backed away from the hyper littling. "Me?! Why _me?!_" 

::Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I?:: 

I think Telca saw the signs first. "Oh shit. Take the dragon! Take the dragon!" She ran over and snatched Korin out of my hands, shoving him into Tvashtar's arms before she grabbed my arm and shoved me back into the frozen food isle. "Now _run!_" 

"But we can't just leave her with the Pred--" 

And thus he got to see one of my rants in action. 

"_THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A RELAXING DAY!!!!!_ But noooOOOooo. I can't even have _one day_ without a headache, or being attacked, or having one of my dragons go insane. _ONE DAY!!_ Why is that so hard!?! _WHY?!_ It's not too much to ask! Just one day of peace! _It's not that FRAKKIN' hard!!_ And you!" I glared at the Pred, dimly aware that an aura was swirling around me as I turned to look at him, a part of my mind laughing at the fact that he was actually backing away from me. "What the _HELL_ is your problem?! What part of _GO AWAY_ don't you understand?! Gods damn it don't you glare at me like that!!" 

So there I was, in the middle of the frozen food isle, my Guardian and best-friend staring at me in shock while I engaged myself in a silent battle of wills with a three meter tall killer alien while a hyper Korin did whirly birds in the air above us. 

::Can I go have more candy, Elfy? Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I?:: 

I have no idea what look passed over my face, but it made the Pred's eyes widen in horror. 

Tvashtar whimpered. "We're all gonna die." 

"Okaaaay! Time to go!" Telca said cheerfully as she grabbed my shoulders and guided me away from the Pred. "We have to finish shopping! Remember, Elfy? Shopping?" 

I twitched. 

"I'll take that as a 'yes'. Here!" She grabbed a bag of Oreos off a display shelf and shoved it at me. "Have a cookie!" 

"I don't want a frakkin' cookie," I snarled. 

"Too bad! Take the cookies!" 

"I don't want a cookie!" 

"And I said _too bad!_ _TAKE THE COOKIE!_" 

::It never ends,:: Kalamadea groaned as Telca and I vanished into a dustcloud fight in the middle of the store. He sighed and looked over at the Pred. ::You can't speak English....but you understand us, right?:: When the huge alien nodded, he smirked. ::Good. Now run away before--:: 

"I DON'T WANT A COOKIE!!!_ FIREBALL!!!_" 

_KABLAM!!_

And thus the frozen food isle wasn't all that 'frozen' anymore. 

"Uh....clean up in Isle 2. Clean up in Isle 2." 

Telca and I paused at the sound of the PA system and blinked, momentarily forgetting about our little fight as we both turned to look down the isle at the soot covered Pred and the many items of now-cooked food behind him. 

"Uh...." I coughed sheepishly. "....oops?" 

"I can't take you anywhere," Telca grumbled as she stood and pulled me to my feet. 

Kalamadea chuckled and looked at the toasty Pred. ::I tried to warn you.:: 

Korin looked from the Pred, to Telca, then to me, and flew over to us again. ::Can I go have more candy, Elfy? Can I? Can I? Can I? Can I?:: 

I did the only thing I could think of. "Go ask Zelgadis!" 

::Can I? Can-- Oh.... Okay!:: 

"Poor bastard will never know what hit him," Telca chuckled as we watched the green dragon head back down the isle. 

I shuddered and reached into a portal to grab a bottle of Tylenol, my hands shaking as I tried to pry the child-proof cap off before simply letting the Chaos turn my nails into talons and _ripping _the damned cap off. 

"You're gonna od on Tylenol," Telca commented as I swallowed a good twelve pills. 

"I won't have a headache if I do, now will I?" I grumbled as I threw the empty bottle into the still open portal then headed for the next isle. "C'mon already." 

Kalamadea shook his head and hopped down to lie on a frozen pizza. ::Mood swing central around here.:: 

Tvashtar exchanged glances with Telca, sighed, and reluctantly followed me. "Uh... Lady Telca? What about the Hunter?" 

"What about him?" she asked curiously, glancing back at the alien. 

My Guardian leaned closer to her and pitched his voice in a low whisper. "Don't you think we should try to find out why he came after Nightcrawler in the first place?" 

"Why bother? He's male, so he's automatically wrong." 

"What?! Hey! I resent the implications of that!!" 

"Cope," she started to follow me, then paused and glared at the Pred. "And don't you snarl at me, ugly. I don't know where you're from, but for Goddess' sake, go back!" 

I leaned out of the next isle and sighed. "Telca, stop tormenting the big psychotic Hunter, okay? He's not prepared for what you can do to him." 

"Hmpft. Ruin all my fun." 

"I won't bake those cookies if you keep tormenting him." 

"What?! That's not fair!" 

Tvashtar, obviously catching on, smirked. "Cope." 

"Why you little--" 

_Come here Kalamadea. It's not safe there right now._ I sent, chuckling as Tvashtar manoeuvred the cart to is was always between him and the now raging Telca. My dragon landed on my right shoulder moments later, his tail automatically curling around my neck as he joined me in watching my Guardian try to keep out of Telca's reach. "Yeesh. C'mon Kalamadea, maybe we'll be finished shopping by the time they sort things out." 

"M'lady! You can't just leave me here!" Tvashtar wailed as I headed down the next isle. "Lashana! _Lashana!!!_" 

"I can't heeeaaaaar you!" I chuckled, hearing Kalamadea snicker in my ear as I grabbed a Gatorade drink off the shelf and opened it, taking a nice long drink. "Ahhh, that's better.... Ack!" The last was due to the fact that a cart had just slammed into my back, making me yelp in shock as my feet were knocked out from under me, leaving me to fall right into the basket. 

"Oh. Hello, Lashana. Didn't see you there," Tvashtar smirked as he looked down at me, obviously unfazed by the glare I was currently sending him. "Isn't that a little uncomfortable? Lying on the frozen fries like that?" 

"Just shut up and help me out," I growled, holding out my arms and letting him lift me from the basket. At one time it would have surprised me, having someone lift me up as if I weighed nothing at all. But after living around a bunch of super powered and disgustingly strong males for a while, I was pretty blaze about all these little technicalities now. "What'd you do to Telca?" 

"Um.... she was right behind me...." My Guardian turned and looked down the isle, ears twitching when he saw the distinct lack of Telca. "Well.... at least it's quiet." 

"I _heard_ that!" 

I rolled my eyes and pitched my bottle of Gatorade over the shelf into the next isle, snickering at the loud yelp of pain that announced that I had hit my intended target. "Hehe. C'mon. Let's shop." 

~*~ 

I think those words would haunt me for the rest of my life. It could've been that being around a group of males for too long had muddled my brain, or that Telca's bouts of irrational insanity were contagious, but for some reason, I had truly believed that the rest of the day was going to be normal. 

How horribly wrong I was. 

Tvashtar and I regrouped with Telca nearly an hour later, both our carts were filled to the brim and over with food and various other things. I didn't want to know why Telca thought we needed another frying pan, a razor and a bucket and I made it plenty clear that I would withhold any and all future slushies if Tvashtar even _thought_ of asking her about it. 

We found Kadrith and Beast back in the fresh vegetable and fruit section, and we all stared at the contents of the cart that Kadrith was pushing around for Beast since the Mutant was still wheeling the unconscious Zelgadis around. 

"Wha.... what is _this?_" Telca frowned, picking up a random item and peering at it. "Tofu? Ew. Beast, are you trying to kill us or something?!" 

"Not at all my dear! I've merely taken a concern in your health and well-being. With these new powers of yours, you and Lashana are burning up large amounts of energy every time you transform," he told us, obviously ignoring the looks of 'so what?' from us. "Eating healthier foods will help your systems recover and adapt to such high strains on your metabolisms." 

I exchanged glances with Tvashtar. "Is tofu even considered a food?" 

"Gods I hope not." 

"We do so eat healthy! Right Lashana?" 

I blinked and looked at Telca, seeing her frantically motion for me to agree with her. "Uh... yes." 

"See? Look, fries are just cut up potatoes, and potatoes are a vegetable, so fries are a vegetable. And ketchup is made from tomatoes, and tomatoes are a fruit, so ketchup is a fruit!" 

"It frightens me to no end that she's actually making sense," Tvashtar whispered to me, eyeing Telca warily. 

Beast gave us an exasperated look. "Telca. We both know that those rationalizations are a farce." 

"Many things are a farce. But trying to get me to eat something like this," she held up the tofu. "Is beyond a farce. It's akin to torture!" 

"Well.... perhaps it is a bit much to start off with. Here, perhaps we can agree on a mutual option." 

While Beast looked into the cart and rifled through various items, I grabbed Kadrith and hauled him and Tvashtar into the bakery. "You okay?" 

"Considering that I've been stuck with a health freak for an hour.... I guess I'm pretty good. Granted I could have lived without a full explanation of how yogurt was made..." The Guardian grimaced and shivered. "It was disgusting." 

"I don't want to know," I stated, pausing to grab a couple baguettes and adding them to the cart. 

Tvashtar eyed the growing pile that was the cart, then looked at me. "Lashana, if you add anything else either the wheels are going to get crushed flat or the mountain of food is going to landslide onto the floor!" 

"Naw. It won't do that," I chuckled, blinking when a soft snore sounded in my left ear. Rolling my eyes, I reached up and poked Kalamadea with a finger. "Oy. Wake up." 

::Wha?:: the dragon rose his head and blinked at us blearily. ::What's goin' on?:: 

"This is not the time or the place for you to fall asleep." 

"Especially not with the people that are shopping here," Kadrith muttered. "I think I saw six Klingons, a Romulan and one of those Aliens at the Meat Counter. And I don't even want to know what was in the Junk Food isle. It looked like a giant slug." 

Tvashtar and I exchanged wary looks and winced. 

"It was eating the bags _whole_," Kadrith continued. He apparently hadn't seen our expressions yet. "Wrappings and all. It was so disgusting... Er. Are you two alright. You don't look very well." 

"We're fine," I said, my voice a few octaves too high. "Just fine. Oh Kalamadea! Wake up. I need you to do a bit of scouting for me." 

::What?:: He still sounded half asleep. ::Now?:: 

"Oh, yes. _Now._" I lifted him off my shoulders and cradled him in my arms. "I'll buy you a cooked chicken for supper if you do." 

::Really?!:: he grinned, eyes gleaming happily. ::Deal!!:: With that, he hopped up onto the top of my head and vaulted into the air, hurriedly gaining altitude until he was skimming the ceiling. 

"What's going on?" Kadrith frowned, eyeing Tvashtar and I suspiciously. 

Tvashtar caved first. "Um... that 'slug' thing that you saw. That's a creature called 'Jabba the Hutt'. We....er... kinda had a little ....altercation with him at the Mall's Food Court." 

"He hurt Kalamadea!" I growled lowly, fisting my right hand. "He got what he deserved! Actually he got off easy too, I was more concerned about Healing Kalamadea. That's the only reason I didn't Dragon Slave him into kingdom come!" 

Kadrith eyed me curiously. "What happened?" 

"Korin..." 

"Say no more," Kadrith chuckled, raising a hand to silence his brother. "That pretty much explains everything." He'd only been with us three days and already, Korin's reputation as a shit-disturber was well known to him. 

I sighed and raked my nails through my hair, sighing heavily as I kept partial mental 'tabs' on Kalamadea, making sure that he wasn't going to get himself into any amounts of trouble that I couldn't get him out of. I caught the tail end of Telca and Beast's conversation as they rejoined us and grimaced. "I am _not_ having lentil and brussel sprout soup! That's _disgusting._" 

"I concur," Telca shuddered. "It's just _wrong_." 

"Ladies, you are going to be the death of me," Beast sighed in exasperation. 

"And you're going to be the death of our ability to taste," I muttered sourly before looking at my fellow sorceress. "Well? We all done?" 

"Pretty much. You _did_ remember to get the cookie fixings....right?" 

I blanched. _I knew I forgot something!!_

"You forgot! How could you forget?!" She turned and rounded on Tvashtar. "And you didn't remind her?!" 

"Uh... sorry?" 

"Telca stop tormenting my Guardian. Torment your own." 

"Hey!" 

I ignored Kadrith's indignant outburst in lieu of ducking the playful smack that Tvashtar sent my way, snickering as I danced out of range. "It's not like it's the end of the world Telca. It won't take me long to get the things I need." 

"Hmpft. This time, we're _all_ going with you. The way your memory's been going you'd probably end up getting lost or something like that," Telca said, rolling her eyes as she added that last part. 

I merely glared at her and debated beating her with a baguette. I really don't know what look I had on my face, but apparently it was cause for concern, because mere breaths after Beast looked at me, he manoeuvred the cart that Zelgadis was in so that it was between us, making sure that I couldn't easily reach him. 

"No homicides in the store. C'mon, the sooner we finish the sooner we can leave. Maybe you'll be able to monster-truck a village of lawn gnomes on the way home," Tvashtar murmured as he slipped an arm around my shoulders and headed back to the baking isle, steering the cart one-handed. Seeing my unimpressed look at his comment, he chuckled and lightly snapped the spade of his tail against the backs of my knees. "I'll cook supper for you then. Whatever you want." 

"Anything?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow at him curiously. 

"Anything." 

"Lasagna with garlic bread? But for tomorrow's lunch?" 

He looked at me in delighted surprise. "You like Italian foods?" 

I grinned. "My Da passed on the great love of pasta to me. I just don't usually go around cooking it anymore because then I'd have to fight the others for my own meal. But since they're not here....." 

His arm tightened around me slightly. "Well, you've got yourself a deal. But you have to help me keep Kadrith from stealing portions when I'm not looking." 

"No prob," I smirked, forcing him to stop walking when I suddenly froze, looking back at Beast as he tried to get away from a store employee. "What the hell? Hey!! You let him go this instant!" 

"What are you people doing to Beast?!" Telca yelled when my own cry made her turn to look at his new development. The employee that had previously been attached to Beast's arm hurriedly released him and backed away as both Telca and I advanced on him. 

"I'm so sorry ladies. We didn't know one of our sale items had escaped from the back freezer. Just let us return it to the back room and--" 

"Touch _one hair_ on him and I will personally make you regret ever being born!" Telca growled lowly, flecks of silver appearing in her now amber gaze as she moved so that she was standing between Beast and the employee. "And what are you babbling about?" 

That's when it hit me. Or rather, that's when Kadrith accidentally bumped me, sending me slamming onto the Plexiglas meat display case. It was when I saw something that looked like a cross between a rat, a duck and a gecko laying out in front of me with a tag that said 'fifteen dollars a pound' that I realised what the employee was talking about. "Oh. Dear. Gods." 

"What?" Tvashtar frowned as I paled and backed away from the display case, raising my hand to cover my mouth and nose. "Lashana?" 

"They think he's a...." Unable to get the words out, I made a weak strangling sound and waved my hand at the Meat Department, seeing everyone's gaze's follow mine for a moment before a unified yelp sounded through the store. 

Beast must have gone pure white under his layer of bright blue fur. "Oh my stars and garters....." 

"He is _NOT _a meat product!" Telca yelled, right into the face of the employee. 

"S-s-sorry Ma'am! B-b-but our records say o-other wise!" he yelped, backing away from the sorceress that was now glaring at him murderously. 

Kadrith and Tvashtar exchanged curious glances before my Guardian shoved his brother towards a growling Telca. "Lady Telca?" When she glanced at him, Kadrith gulped audibly, his tail twitching nervously. "Since this obviously isn't going to be settled...er...neatly... why don't we just... Well why don't we just buy him back?" 

The employee looked very pleased with this. "Would you like him in portions or 'as is'?" 

Luckily both Tvashtar and Kadrith were close enough to be able to stop Telca before she could reach the employees throat, granted her pinkie fingernail did manage to take a layer of skin off the employees nose. 

"As is. Just round off a price," I growled, glaring at him angrily. "And hurry, else I may just have them let her go." I gestured to Telca as I said this, and smirked when the employee looked at her just as she screamed out her true opinion of him, using many inventive and colourful terms that I didn't think had come into existence until this very moment. 

By the time we were able to leave the Meat Department, not only had Kadrith and Tvashtar left toe-talon gouges in the floor from trying to hold Telca back, but we had managed to frighten three employees into unconsciousness. Beast, however, was rather insulted at the neon green store sticker that was now glued to his chest. 

"Oh, don't worry Blue," Telca soothed as she leaned against the blue furred mutant. "I think you're worth more than just seventy-nine dollars. Here now, take a deep breath. This is going to hurt." 

I didn't even turn around. I didn't have to. The sound of a sticker being ripped off of someone's furred chest was more than enough to inform me as to what happened. As was the muffled roar/whimper that came along with it. I sighed as we walked by the fish department, my line of sight partially blocked by my hand as I massaged my aching temples. It was only when I realised that the others weren't behind me that I paused and looked back at them. 

And that's when I realised that we had found Akhor. 

I followed the groups gaze to the fish counter, and the huge lobster tank that was situated on the counter. There, swimming amongst the lobsters with the remains of a lobster tail lodged in his fangs, was Akhor. The moment he saw me, he gave me a fanged grin and spat out the tail in his mouth before lunging at another lobster that was nearly half his own size. 

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. 

I settled for yelling. 

"Khordeshkhistriakhor!!!!" 

::Ooooh. She used his full name!:: Kalamadea chuckled as he landed on Tvashtar's right shoulder, wings neatly folding against his back. ::He's in trouble now! Hehe.:: 

I ignored the oldest of the trio in lieu or trying to get the youngest out of the lobster tank. "Khordeshkhistriakhor, get out of there _this instant!!_ Those things are twenty dollars a pound!!" 

Tvashtar gulped and glanced at Kalamadea. "Um... did you happen to find Jabba?" 

The blue dragon turned his attention from where I was plunging my arm into the tank to retrieve Akhor and blinked at my Guardian. ::Oh. The slug? Yeah, he's right behind you, why?:: 

I froze, my arm still in the lobster tank. Slowly, I turned and looked past the group, blinking at Jabba as he slithered/oozed/whatever into view, his gaze raking across the things on display in the department before landing on me. "Uh..." I smiled nervously and wiggled the fingers of my free hand at him. "Hi?" 

"_RUN!_" 

Not bothering to even think about ignoring Tvashtar's yell, I closed my right hand around Akhor's tail and bolted down an isle, dimly aware that the little insane group was right behind me as Jabba did a gurgling roar and tried to follow us. 

"Bombs away!!" 

But luckily the ten pound bag of salt that Telca threw at him slowed him down. Actually I'm pretty sure it did more than slow him down considering that he was now lying in the middle of the isle twitching violently. 

"Clean up in isle four! Clean up in isle four!" 

I snickered at the exasperated tone of whoever was manning the P.A. system today and skidded to a stop near the end of the isle, glancing back to make sure everyone had made it okay before turning my gaze to the dragon that was trying to get his tail free. "You," I said as I rose my arm so that he was dangling upside-down directly in front of my face, "are in a lot of trouble." 

::But they were fresh!:: he protested, trying the puppy-dog look on me and then sighing in defeat when he realised it wasn't going to work this time. ::Sorry?:: 

"I'll think about it," I grumbled as I shifted my hold on him to cradle him in my arms. 

"Well, at least you won't have to feed him tonight," Telca snickered. "He looks stuffed." 

"I noticed, thank you." 

"You're welcome! So, what do you need to get? For the cookies?" 

"Um... I think we have almost everything except for shortening, flour, sugar, and chocolate chips," I murmured, wincing as Akhor dug his talons into my arm and climbed up onto my right shoulder. 

"If I remember correctly, the baking isle is only two isles down," Beast announced, still ruefully rubbing at the partial bald spot on his chest where Telca had ripped that sticker off. 

"And I think I saw the chocolate chips on sale," Kadrith added, earning grin from both Telca and I. 

"Discount chocolate!!" 

"Look what you've done," Tvashtar growled to his brother as Telca and I bolted down the isle. 

"Oh like it's my fault they're a little insane?" Kadrith growled, starting to follow us and pausing when he saw Telca nearing the end of the isle, where numerous coffee bean dispensers were located. He obviously thought nothing of it when she held out her left hand on the way past them. At least he didn't until he realised that she had opened each and every single dispenser on the way by. 

Did you know that the sound of twenty coffee dispensers dispensing onto the cheap linoleum floor sounds a lot like rain during a violent storm? It was really neat how the coffee beans cascaded onto the floor and proceeded to spread out until it looked like a flood of coffee had taken over the isle. 

Unfortunately, Telca's little gag had one little setback. 

"NNNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!" 

I rose my gaze from where I was standing next to Telca at the end of the isle, admiring the sheer volume of beans those dispensers could hold, and blinked at the source of the horrified scream. _Well. At least Zelgadis is awake._

Oh yes. The caffeine addicted chimera was awake. And now he was kneeling amongst the beans and cradling some in his hands as he wept in sorrow. My, oh my, but he was strange. 

"They didn't even have a chance to be percolated!!" Zel wailed as he threw himself face first onto the floor and tried to hug the beans to himself. 

"There is something really wrong with that one," Telca whispered to me as Zel cupped beans in his hands, rose to his knees, held his hands up as if hold a sacrificial offering and started begging for the Gods Of All That Is Caffeinated to spare their meagre beany lives. 

"I think that one needs medication," I whispered back to Telca, who hummed and nodded in agreement while the rest of our group busied themselves in laughing themselves sick. 

Telca watched this little surprising entertainment factor for a few more moments, then grinned and struck a pose. "To the chocolate!!" she cried as she grabbed by arm and bolted for the baking isle, literally dragging me along behind her. 

I wouldn't have minded so much if she hadn't dragged me through a group of beings that were a lot like giant porcupines. 

"Let go!" I yelped, smacking her a few times until she released my arm, letting me lie there on the floor limply. _That bloody well hurt..._

"This is no time for a nap!" she growled as she hauled me to my feet, blinking in surprise moments later. "Where'd all those scratches come from?" 

I glared and pointed at the group of people she had just dragged me through. 

"Oh. Sorry." 

I grumbled something inventive in her direction and brushed past her, carefully sidestepping one of those flatbeds with wheels that employees use to wheel large amounts of materials around as they restock shelves. It reminded me a lot of an oversized skateboard. Luckily, before either Telca or I came up with the notion of seeing if its manoeuvring capabilities were anything like those of a real skateboard, our attentions became once again diverted. Not that that was a rare thing to happen. 

"Sweet hairy hell," Telca breathed as she followed my shocked gaze to what was standing at the far end of the isle. Remember that ship we had seen in the parking lot? Well, that MiB bug was making a guest appearance in our grocery store. 

::Can we squish it?:: Ahkor whispered into my thoughts as he curled up so that my hair completely hid him from view. 

"This outing is starting to rate a ten on the weird factor," I murmured as I watched the bug lean down and pick something off the bottom shelf. It took a moment for my addled mind to process what it was, and even less for me to realise that this situation was about to get worse. "That's the last bag of sugar!!" 

"What?!" Telca cried. "We gotta stop him! I want those cookies!" 

"Way ahead of you!" I cackled as I shoved Akhor onto a shelf, darted back to the end of the isle, grabbed the board on wheels and took a few steps back. I was dimly aware of Telca's answering cackle as I took a brief run forward, then threw myself onto the board, using a Diem Wind spell to boost the demented skateboards speed as I shot down the isle. "_MINE!!_" I yelled as I careened between the bugs legs, reaching out to snatch the bag of sugar from it's claws on the way by. "_BWAHAHAHAHA--AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!_" 

_CRASH!!!_

"Lashana!!" Telca bolted past the still started bug and dug through the hundreds of Kleenex boxes that I had toppled from their perfected display when I had slammed into the base of the pile, throwing boxes every which way until she managed to uncover my face. "Lashana!" She shoved more boxes aside and looked at me with deadly seriousness. "Did you get the sugar?" 

I snarled and whapped her with a Kleenex box. 

And thus that explains why Tvashtar and Kadrith found us pitching Kleenex boxes at one another while a cockroach the size of a bus stood there gaping at us in disbelief. I suppose that also explains why they turned around and headed down a completely different isle. 

However, that's also when the bug snapped himself out of his stunned state and roared, drowning out Telca and I as we screamed at each other. It's also why we teamed up and bombarded it with the Kleenex boxes until it was forced to retreat. 

Rapid mood swing not withstanding, Telca and I exchanged high-fives, then darted back into the baking isle, quickly securing the needed flour and shortening before tracking down our two Guardians. 

"Are you two finished trying to kill each other with Kleenex boxes now?" Kadrith asked when he saw us approaching. 

I glanced at Telca. "Killing each other with Kleenex boxes? Whatever are you talking about?" 

"We saw you..." Tvashtar saw the demented look in Telca's eyes and sighed. "Nevermind." 

::Good choice,:: Kalamadea chuckled. 

My Guardian shot the dragon a disgusted look, then turned back to look at Telca and I "Did you find what you needed?" 

"Yup!" I said cheerfully, setting the flour and sugar into the half-empty cart that Kadrith was pushing, strategically taking a moment to shove the tofu through the bars of the cart and kicking it under a shelf. "If a big giant bug comes after this bag of sugar... um... defend it with your lives." 

Kadrith exchanged wary glances with his brother. "Uh... and the likelihood of that happening is...?" 

"Very high," Telca said distractedly as she stared at some of the jars and cans on the shelves. We hade ventured into the very unappetizing section of the store, and I shivered at the sight of what could have once been a snake floating in a jar of what could have been grape jelly. Telca however, let her curiosity get the better of her and reached out to grab a jar. "What the hell is this? What exactly is a T'sulft and where does one find it's meborleglz?" 

"I don't think we want to know," I grimaced as I edged away from a jar of... well I don't know what it was but it was actually eyeing me in return. I figured that joining Telca at the moment was a good idea, so I reached out and grabbed an identical jar of Meborleglz of T'sulft, studying it curiously. 

And that's when.... _something _female wandered over to us, pausing to look from Telca and I to Kadrith and and Tvashtar, then to the jar Telca was holding. 

"Now dearies, I can't imagine such young, healthy looking females would need that but it's nice to see determined young people these days," she smiled at us (at least I _think_ it was a smile. Does something that looks like a mutated celery crossbred with a cabbage smile?) and nodded to the jars we were holding. "Just give it time and it will out sort itself out. But if you're getting really impatient then just take a slice of that with a drink of Yineta nectar and before you know it you'll be sprouting. Ah motherhood is such a joy." 

Kalamadea squeaked. ::Oh. My. Gods.:: 

Telca and I held our breaths as she wandered away, our eyes wide in shock. Slowly, I turned my head to exchange horrified looks with Telca, then copied her example and calmly set the jar back onto the shelf before we both turned and violently scraped our hands against the sides of the carts, not caring that various sharp edges were slicing into our hands as we did so. Then we wiped our hands clean on the still semi-catatonic Tvashtar and Kadrith, shuddered in complete and total revulsion, and headed out of the isle. 

"Wh...What else do we need?" Telca shuddered, taking any and every opportunity to scrape her hands against something as we headed across the entrances of all the isles. 

"Just the chocolate chips. Then we can leave and never speak of this again." 

::Good plan,:: Kalamadea agreed as he flew over to me and landed on my right shoulder. 

"Good. Very good...." Telca trailed off from her unknowing agreement with Kalamadea and paused in mid-step, reaching out to stop me as well. 

"What?" I frowned, looking at the shocked expression on her face for a moment before following her gaze to the display of chocolate chips that were on sale. The mob that was savagely attacking the display reminded me of a shark feeding frenzy. Bags flew everywhere, some torn open, so it was now literally raining chocolate. I grinned and tilted my head back, letting a few chips fall into my open mouth. "Mmm, chocolate fudge." 

"I always knew this day would come," Telca whispered as she clasped her hands together in front of herself, an alarmingly happy look in her eyes. "It's _raining chocolate!!!_" 

::Well, at least we know where Akhor's gonna end up,:: Kalamadea smirked as he relocated himself to the top of my head so that he'd have a better vantage point. 

I rolled my eyes and looked back at the mob. "How the hell are we going to get an undamaged bag anyway?" When I didn't get an answer, I turned to look at Telca, blinking at the empty space where she had been a moment before.... 

Until a psychotic laugh drew my attention to the sorceress that was now a part of the mob. 

Kalamadea groaned. ::We can't bring her anywhere.:: 

"Oh for the flamin' love of...." I sighed and dropped my head into my hands. _I need a vacation._ After a few more seconds of wishing that I was somewhere else, I straightened, squared my shoulders and ran into the fray. It was actually rather easy to get to the shelf since all I had to do was use various people's heads as demented stepping stones, granted I don't think that Sailor Mars liked having my boot in her face, but at the moment I didn't much care. 

So now that I was precariously perched on the top of the shelf, kneeling there and gripping the sides so tightly that my knuckles were turning white, I took a moment to seriously reconsider this plan of mine. Luckily the lure of nearby bags of chocolate overrode the sudden urge to panic, and I leaned over to snatch three unopened bags right out from under someone's hands. As luck would have it, those hands belonged to Telca, and now Telca had a death grip on my wrist and was trying to yank me off the shelf. 

::Don't fall off! Don't fall off!:: Kalamadea shrieked into my mind, as he scrambled from my head back to my shoulder, digging all four sets of talons into my shirt as he clung to me. 

"_Telca!!_" I snarled, shifting my grip on the shelf as I heaved her onto the top of it with me. "Dammit let go! You're drawing blood!" 

She blinked, then quickly released me. "Sorry! I didn't know it was you!" 

"Y'uh huh. Sure," I muttered, looking at the nail marks she had left in my skin before relocating the bags of chocolate onto my lap. 

::Mommy!:: 

The panicked cry yanked my attention down into the mob, and I paled when I saw Akhor huddled on one of the shelves below us, looking lost and forlorn as he stared at the mob that was starting to clean out the shelf he was on. 

::See? Told ya.:: Kalamadea smirked, yelping when I turned around, hooked the heels of my boots into the side of the shelf and fell backwards so that I was hanging over the opposite side of the shelf staring the mob right in the face. 

"Back the hell off!!" My snarl was accompanied by my right fist as I punched something what looked like the Beast from 'Beauty and the Beast' away from the shelves, smirking when he stumbled backwards and tripped, sending the entire mob crashing to the floor. "Akhor!" 

The second I felt the white dragon sink his talons into my back, I reached up to grab the shelf's edge and Telca's outstretched hand, grunting as I pulled myself up into a more natural and upright position. "Ug... walls... moving..." I shook my head slightly, then looked at the hyperventilating Kalamadea that was clinging to my shoulder so hard that he was drawing blood. "That hurts." 

::Mommy!:: Akhor whimpered and crawled around until he could burrow into my arms, climbing up my shirt until he could press his chest over my heart, his head firmly nestled under my chin. 

"I think we should take this as a sign that it's time to leave," Telca mused, looking at me in amusement. 

"For once, I agree with you completely. Now how do we get off of this--ACK!" The last was due to the fact that I had just turned around and come face to face with the very large cockroach that I had stolen the sugar from. And he didn't look to damn pleased to see me again either. Well... he seemed to be happy that I was in _reach_... "Frak." 

"_Move!_" Telca growled as she leapt to her feet and dragged me up with her, her grip on my arm forcing me to follow her as she ran along the top of the shelf, kicking various things out of her way as she did so. 

I twisted slightly as we ran, looking back at the bug as he chased us. I really didn't think it was a good sign that the shelf was wobbling as Telca hopped from one shelf onto another, bringing me with her. I _really _didn't think it was a good thing that this new shelf was wobbling more than the first... 

And then the bug tried to copy our example. 

Have you ever seen 'The Mummy'? Remember that library scene where Evelyn toppled one shelf, and it did a domino effect with the rest of the shelves, decimating the entire library? Yeah. Well, we were in the process of reinacting that scene. 

"Oh my gods we're all gonna die!!" I wailed as I watched the shelf that the bug had just leapt onto wobble, then start to tip sideways towards us. A part of my mind took notice of the fact that the bug looked just as terrified as I was, but I hardly ever took notice of that part of my mind for very long. It tended to try to get me to clean things and listen to my conscience. 

"Telca!" 

I blinked as a blue blur shot past me, then blinked some more when I saw that Telca was no longer standing next to me. It only took me a moment to realise that the blur had been Beast, and that he had saved Telca while leaving me behind. "You _bastard!!_" I screeched as the first shelf slammed into the one I was standing on, and I felt my heart leap into my throat as I tried to keep my balance, instinctively shifting to shield the two dragons that were now frozen in terror, refusing to let go of me. _Oh sweet Goddess this is going to hurt...._

"Gotcha!" Tvashtar grinned as he grabbed me, his arms wrapping around my waist and his tail curled around my left ankle as he beat his wings strongly, effortlessly lifting us out of the way of the shelves that were toppling across the entire store. 

"Clean up in Isles two through fifteen...." The P.A. announcer actually sounded a little surprised this time. A good change from the catatonic tone from before. 

After taking a moment to get a death grip around my Guardian's neck, I twisted slightly and surveyed the damage, paling at the complete desolation that was the store. "I'm not paying for this," I muttered before blushing and looking up at Tvashtar. "Uh... where's your shirt?" 

"Had to get rid of it. I couldn't regrow my wings while wearing it," he explained, refusing to meet my gaze as he carefully landed a little ways away from the chaos. "Are you alright?" 

"Nearly had a heart-attack and I have this overwhelming urge to smack Beast, but other than that, I'm fine," I shrugged as he released me and quickly put two feet of space between us. I rolled my eyes and turned to look at Telca as she and Kadrith ran over to us. "Ne, I think we've done enough shopping for one day." 

"Yeah. Beast's gone to dig Zelgadis out of the wreckage. Stupid chimera was still glomping the coffee beans," she told me with an exasperated sigh. 

That jogged my addled memory. "Oh my gods! Korin!! _KORIN!!_" The sound of a large belch from above made me jerk my gaze upwards, staring at the green dragon that was happily licking his fangs clean. "Korin!" Not caring about where he had been or what damage he himself had caused, I reached up and hauled him into my arms, hugging him tightly. _Damned dragon. Where the hell have you been?_

::It's sample day!:: he sent, flashes of pleased greens and blues assaulting my mind's eye. I was just happy that he was alive and seemingly over his sugar rush from before. ::Some of it was really good. And it was all free!:: 

Kadrith smirked and went to stand next to his brother. "So... who was it that said that this assignment would be boring?" 

"Oh shut up," Tvashtar grumbled, folding his arms over his chest as he fanned his wings slightly, stubbornly refusing to rise to his brothers taunts. 

"Alright, let's just pay for this stuff and bolt," Telca ordered as she grabbed her cart from where it had narrowly avoided the domino shelves and shoving it towards the only open cash, cackling softly when people turned, saw us coming, and ran. "Yay! No waiting!" 

I rolled my eyes and silently followed Tvashtar over to the cash, eyeing him curiously as he leaned against the handle bar before I reached out and poked him in the ribs, quirking an eyebrow when he yelped and jumped. "What's got your tail in a knot?" 

He looked at me, his gaze seemingly staring into my soul for a moment before he reached out, lay a hand on the top of my head and ruffled my hair. "You worry too much." 

I snarled wordlessly and raked my fingers through the knots he had created with that gesture. "Never do that again," I growled, catching his playful smirk before my attention was drawn elsewhere. Mainly to the chimera that was being wheeled over to us. "Oh not _again_." 

Beast sighed and looked at Zelgadis where he lay in the cart. "I'm afraid so. He was rendered unconscious by the economy sized jars of Maxwell House that toppled onto him." 

"Could be worse," Kadrith shrugged, chuckling when I looked at him in askance. "Those jars of T'sulft could have broken over him." 

Telca and I cringed and shuddered. "Don't even _joke_ about that," she muttered sourly, shuddering again afterwards. 

"Not to interrupt... but has anyone seen our young Nightcrawler?" Beast asked, looking at each of us in turn as we shrugged. "Oh dear. Kadrith, would you mind keeping an eye on Zelgadis? I am going to go see if I can find Kurt." 

"Stay away from the Meat Department!" Telca called after him as he turned and bounded into the chaos. 

All in all, at least no one had gotten killed. That was easily to assume because the interior of the store was now being raided. Anyone and everyone were now grabbing whatever they could from the toppled shelves and then bolting from the building before the employees could stop them. 

I sighed as I watched the insanity and hugged the dragons to me a little tighter, feeling Akhor and Korin happily nuzzle their heads against my throat as they crooned softly. Kalamadea was still trying to get over the incident from before, and I belatedly wondered if I'd ever be able to get his talons out of my shoulder.... 

"AAAAHHHHH!" 

"What in the worlds?" Kadrith muttered under his breath as he, Tvashtar and I turned towards the scream, the three of us calmly watching as Nightcrawler bamfed his way across the store, the Predator in hot pursuit. "Well.... we found Nightcrawler. Now what?" 

"I.... am not sure," his brother answered, blinking a few times before turning to look at me. "Don't you think it's high time we find out what's going on with that Hunter?" 

I whined. "Do we _have_ to? I've seen the movies, read the comics and the books. The only way we're going to get any information out of him is if one of us beats him in a fair fight! And I don't wanna!" I paused. "And you're not gonna!" 

He grumbled and banished his weapon. "What good am I to you if you won't let me help you?" 

"Getting yourself killed will not help me one bit. You don't know what the Pred's capable of. I do." 

"Why don't you just fill us in?" Kadrith rumbled, looking at me curiously as he folded his arms over his chest. 

"Do you seriously expect me to go through everything I've managed to memorize from two movies, five books and fifty comics in the span of two minutes?" 

Telca's Guardian sighed and lowered his arms, tail twitching slightly. "Good point. Well, we can't let Lady Telca see that Hunter trying to kill Nightcrawler. There's no telling what she'd--" 

"It's doing _WHAT?!_" 

I looked over at a now enraged Telca and sighed. "Chill. I'll go get Kurt... Er...Tvashtar? Can you pry Kalamadea off of me? I think one of his talons just scraped against bone..." I held still as my Guardian slowly coaxed the eldest dragon off of me, wincing when Kalama's talons left numerous deep gashes behind. "That blazing hurts... Here. Take them too." I shoved Akhor and Korin into his arms, then turned and headed into the war zone. 

Kadrith glanced at Tvashtar as my three dragons perched along his shoulders and horns, and smirked. 

"Not. One. Word," Tvashtar snarled, trying to look dignified while Korin and Akhor fought over who'd get to perch on which of his horns. 

I meanwhile, was chasing the Predator who was chasing Kurt, who was bamfing all around the store like mad. Needless to say this wasn't helping my current mood one bit, especially now that the bug - which did not get squished - had just managed to dig himself out and was now chasing _me_. "Enough is enough...." 

Kadrith and Tvashtar watched impassively as the chase went past them, the former nudging his brother in the side with his tail. "I think your Avatar is about to do something drastic." 

Indeed I was. Hehe. 

"_AVATAR UNLEASHED!!!!!_" I threw my head back and gasped as power flooded though me, dimly aware that my hair and eyes had turned pure gold as black spines tore from the backs of my arms, my nails hardening and changing into black talons. "Mwahahaha!! Bonzai!!" 

Telca sighed wistfully as I tackled the Pred at exactly the same moment that the bug tackled me and the Pred tackled Nightcrawler, the dust cloud that formed filling a good portion of the store. "She gets all the fun," she complained, ignoring the slightly shocked looks she got from Tvashtar and Kadrith as she watched the dustcloud. 

"And you thought _your_ Avatar was insane," Tvashtar grumbled to his brother, yelping seconds later when an airborne Nightcrawler slammed into him. 

"Ugh.... dude.... that was not fun...." the teen mumbled, his eyes doing that little swirly thing that most people's do when they've been knocked silly. 

I meanwhile, was busy alternating between avoiding being skewered by the bug's claws and being ripped open by the Predator's wrist knives. All in all it was kinda fun. Granted it ended all too soon. I ducked as I caught the blades of the Pred's weapon on the spines of my left right arm, wincing as the bug's claw missed my head and sent the Pred sprawling backwards out of the dustcloud. Now that he was gone, I turned my attention to the bug and gave him my best demented grin. "Hello." 

I imagine that seeing the bug literally bolt for the doors was quite a sight for Tvashtar and Kadrith to see. I, on the other hand, merely placed my hands on my hips, threw my head back, and cackled manically. 

"I don't get paid enough for this," Tvashtar muttered. 

"We don't get paid," Kadrith reminded him. 

"Well that's a huge part of the problem right there," I grinned as I walked over to them, a little giddy from the surge in Power I was still experiencing. Tvashtar's look of shock made me wonder if maybe I'd unhinged his mind, at least until I realised that he was staring at something past my right shoulder. "Eh?" 

And thus I turned and came face to chest with the charging Predator. 

I stumbled backwards a little in surprise, annoyed that the Pred didn't even seem the least affected by the impact. Indeed, he had the nerve to look at _me_ in annoyance, mandibles twitching as he folded his arms over his chest and gave me a 'what do you think you're doing' look. 

A soft groan drew my attention to Nightcrawler as Telca wove a healing spell on him, and I cocked my head to the side curiously as I looked at him. "What exactly did you do to piss off el Hunter?" I asked, jerking a thumb over my shoulder at the alien that was towering there glaring at the teen. 

"Me?" He tried to look innocent, saw our unimpressed expressions, and caved. "There was a sale on and I kinda... bamfed in and grabbed the last box out from under his hands." 

"Box of what?" Telca asked. 

The teen sighed and pointed into Tvashtar's cart. We all bent over and peered through the bars, blinking at the box of gourmet burgers for a moment before returning our gazes to Nightcrawler. 

"They're really good," he said weakly. 

I blinked and glanced back at the Hunter, who was still glaring at the teen, then turned and looked at Telca, who was obviously trying very hard not to laugh. Unfortunately, the glance we shared was our undoing, and we broke out into hysterical howls of laughter mere seconds later. 

Of course, in doing so, we managed to set Kadrith and Tvashtar off, so now there were four of us laughing insanely and generally hanging onto each other for balance lest we collapse to the floor. I had almost managed to get myself under control when I caught the 'what the hell' look that Nightcrawler and the Predator exchanged, and then I became a lost cause. 

Sheer lack of air brought me to a coughing stop five minutes later, and I alternated between gasping and snickering as I clung to Tvashtar to keep myself from falling flat on my ass on the floor, dimly aware that he was holding me upright as he leaned back against a rack of magazines, trying to catch his breath. 

"You're doing this.... over a box.... of _burgers?!_" It seemed that Telca still hadn't wound down yet, because the moment both the Pred and Kurt nodded, she started howling again. Kadrith was having trouble keeping her from collapsing, granted it would have been easier if he himself had stopped laughing.... 

I bet you didn't know Telca's laughter was infectious. Hell, neither did we. But the sight of Telca tripping Kadrith and crashing to the floor managed to bring grins to everyone's faces (even though it was kinda hard to tell with the Pred), and the subsequent sight of her rolling around laughing like a maniac pretty much turned all of us into lost causes. 

The sight of the cashier fainting from shock didn't help us one damned bit either. 

And that's how Beast found us. I suppose that explains why he merely shuffled forward to grab his cart before heading to a newly opened cash. But hey, we were all on our way to oxygen deprivation, so what did we care? 

In the end, we got a discount on all the stuff we bought for the only reason that the employees wanted to get the lot of us out of the store. Apparently the sound and sight of us had terrified most, if not all, of the clerks and shoppers. But hey, we got a discount out of it! However we also got something else.... 

"I think I cracked a rib," Tvashtar wheezed as he and I finished loading up the car, lowering his right hand to gingerly rub at his side as he grabbed the cart and headed back to the store. 

I rolled my eyes and slammed the trunk closed, quirking an eyebrow at the three dragons that were plastered against the rear windshield making faces at us. _You three look ridiculous,_ I thought at them as I climbed into the drivers seat and leaned back into the soft chair, wincing when I heard a low snore from the back. Beast had dumped Zelgadis back there a few minutes ago and latched him to a seat, and even now, the chimera wasn't awake. It was downright amazing that he had stayed unconscious throughout the entire insane cackling session that we had done. 

Sighing, I closed my eyes and let myself revert to my Elven form, trying not to wince as the spines along my arms retracted into my flesh. _I'll never get used to that...._ A draconic body landed on my right shoulder moments later, a scaled head nuzzling against my cheek, and I smiled slightly as I opened my eyes and glanced at Akhor out of the corner of my eye. "Heyla littling." 

::Elfy!:: 

Chuckling at the joyous tone, I reached up and lightly stroked his chest, humming softly in reply as he crooned happily and curled his tail around my neck. The other two chose that moment to join us, Korin landing on the steering wheel in front of me while Kalamadea merely hopped onto the top of my head and curled up right there. 

"Well, don't you look all comfy. And here I am shoving that monster on wheels back to the store with bruised ribs!" 

I rolled my eyes again at Tvashtar's playful taunting then looked over at him as he climbed into the passenger seat, watching as his wings folded and retracted into his back. "Doesn't that hurt?" 

"Not in the least. It kinda tickles actually," he admitted while he closed the door and strapped himself in. "We'd better hurry, Telca's waiting for us." 

I groaned and relocated Korin and Kalamadea onto the dashboard, shifting to dig into my pocket for the keys.... 

....and blinked when an arm reached through my open window to jingle the keys in my face. 

I jerked a little, then made a grab for the keys, scowling when they were pulled back out the window. Now almost completely annoyed, I unbuckled myself and leaned out the window, glaring up at the Pred that was crouched on the roof of the car. "You bastard," I smirked, seeing the smug look in his eyes as he growled in amusement, then threw the keys to me. "When the hell did you.... Oh, nevermind. I don't want to know." 

"C'mon, Lashana!! I'm growing old over here!" Telca shrieked from the other end of the parking lot, making us wince. 

"I have a feeling that I should have bought some Tylenol," I muttered under my breath before returning my attention to the Pred. "You! Off the car!" 

"Fine! Have it your way Lashana!" Telca's voice rang out across the parking lot again. "I'll tell Malcho you said 'hi'!" 

"Oh Sweet Mother of the Gods!" I wailed as I ducked back into the car and shoved the keys into the ignition, slamming my foot onto the gas pedal the second the engine came to life. I was dimly aware of the Pred roaring in shock as the car lurched forward, sending him sprawling into the air to land on - and crush - a little neon pink VW Beetle. But by now I was way too worried about what the insane Avatar of Gaia was going to do to my Quetzacoatl to care. 

~*~ 

We got home in record time. Granted Telca still beat us, but only by a few moments. She was still in the process of leaping out of her truck when I peeled into the driveway, ignoring Tvashtar's yells to stop driving like a maniac as I slammed on the brakes, then scrambled out of the car and bolted after Telca. 

"Oh, Malcho!" Telca called in a sing-song voice as she ran for the backyard, carrying the frying pan, bucket and the razor she had bought. That tone of voice coming out of Telca's mouth is _never_ a good thing. _N-E-V-E-R.. _"Malcho, where aaaaare you? Hehe." 

I didn't know what she was up to, but I didn't want to find out (why a bucket anyway? Wait, I don't want to know...). "_MALCHO!!_" My voice cracked in the middle of the screech, but I kept screaming anyway. "_MALCHO!! RUN!! FOR THE LOVE OF THE GODS.... **RUN!!!**_" I skidded around the corner of the Palace and saw my Quetzacoatl lounging by the pool. In full view. And sleeping. Apparently I hadn't screamed loud enough. I could fix that. "**_MALCHO!!!! RUN AWAY!!!_**" 

That did it. 

"Que?!" His head snapped up at the scream, tongue flicking out to taste the scents of the air before his eyes widened in horror at the sight of Telca running at him and a panicked me way too far behind to help. "Carumba!" 

I poured on the speed at the same time that Telca did, granted in the long run, it didn't much matter. 

"_DIGU VOLT!!!!_" 

By the time the lightning spell had run it's course and left Telca and I to drop to the ground in twitching heaps, I was severely regretting my decision to teach the snake magicks. I was also regretting that I couldn't move my arms so as to be able to try to strangle him as he cried out in worry and rushed over to me while a concerned Beast bounded over to the still twitching Telca. 

"Mi amiga? Are you alright? Por favor, mi amiga! Answer me!" 

"Malcho?" I rasped. 

"Si, muchacha?!" 

"_FIREBALL._" The spell was weak - hell, I'd just been electrocuted - and it wasn't very well aimed, but it was enough that Malcho was now slightly crispy and covered with soot. 

"A simple 'I'm okay, amigo' would have sufficed," he grumbled sourly after coughing out a few lungfulls of smoke. 

"MALCHO!!" 

We both turned at the low growling scream, paling when we saw Telca staggering towards us, an aura of power swirling around her. "Oh sheee-yit," I whispered before looking up at Malcho. "_RUN!!_" 

Tvashtar shook his head ruefully as he watched Telca chase Malcho and I around the backyard, sighing in exasperation before looking at his brother. "This... is going to take a lot of work." 

"Tell me about it. At least you don't have to try to convince a psychopathic sorceress that as the Avatar of Gaia, she's not supposed to beat people unconscious with a bucket," Kadrith muttered as he looked over at Telca wearily. "Or anything else for that matter." 

"I pity you. Really." 

"Oh, shut up."   
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
